Hooge Ignace Th C, Over Eelco A B, van Wezel Richard J A, Frens Maarten A
Psychonomics, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, NL-3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Vision Res. 2005 Jun;45(14):1901-8. doi: 10.1016/j.visres.2005.01.030.
The ability to search and scan the environment effectively is a prerequisite for spatial behavior. A longstanding theory proposes that inhibition of previously attended loci (Inhibition of return; IOR) serves to facilitate exploration by increasing the likelihood to inspect new areas instead of returning to locations that have been inspected before. In this eye movement study we tested whether we could find evidence in favor of this hypothesis. Here we report that IOR does occur during search and free viewing, because we found increased fixation times preceding return saccades (eye movements that return to previously fixated locations). Meanwhile we observed no influence of IOR on the search strategy. Rather than the predicted low number we found many return saccades. Therefore, IOR does not serve as a foraging facilitator in saccadic search and free viewing. We hypothesize that IOR is an intrinsic aspect of shifting attention and gaze direction and furthermore that it is not always advantageous to prevent return saccades.
有效搜索和扫视环境的能力是空间行为的一个先决条件。一个长期存在的理论认为，抑制先前关注的位点（返回抑制；IOR）有助于通过增加检查新区域而非返回之前检查过的位置的可能性来促进探索。在这项眼动研究中，我们测试了是否能找到支持这一假设的证据。在此我们报告，IOR在搜索和自由观看过程中确实会出现，因为我们发现在返回扫视（回到先前注视位置的眼动）之前注视时间增加。同时，我们观察到IOR对搜索策略没有影响。我们发现了许多返回扫视，而不是预测的低数量。因此，IOR在扫视搜索和自由观看中并不是一种觅食促进因素。我们假设IOR是转移注意力和注视方向的一个内在方面，此外，防止返回扫视并不总是有利的。
