Distance-from-target dynamics during visual search

Tseng, Y. C., & Li, C. S. (2004). Oculomotor correlates of context-guided learning in visual search. Perception & Psychophysics, 66, 1368–1378 noted that visual search with eye movements may be characterized by a search phase in which fixations do not move towards the target, followed by a phase in which fixations move steadily towards the target. They speculated that the phases are related to memory and recognition processes. Human visual search and Monte Carlo simulations are described towards an explanation. Distance-from-target dynamics were demonstrated to be sensitive to geometric constraints and therefore do not provide a solution to the question of memory in visual search. Finally, it is concluded that the specific distance-from-target dynamics noted by Tseng, Y. C., & Li, C. S. (2004). Oculomotor correlates of context-guided learning in visual search. Perception & Psychophysics, 66, 1368–1378 are parsimoniously explained by random walks that were initialized at the centre of their stimulus displays.