EYELEVEL · Levels of cognitive organization in human eye movements

Visual perception is essential for the interaction with our environment and requires various types of eye movements. Clear and stable vision is limited to the small foveal region (ca. double the size of a thumbnail) and to the time of fixations (when the eyes are relatively stable). During fast saccadic eye movements the fovea is brought from one point to another and our vision is mainly suppressed. Characteristics in the interplay of fixations and saccades as well as in brain activity have been separately investigated in relation to basic, reflexlike mechanisms (e.g. the presentation of sudden visual changes) and higher cognitive functions, such as localization and identification of objects. The proposed research aims to further investigate these mechanisms by combining eye-tracking and Magnetencephalography (MEG) during free visual exploration. EyeLevel will contribute to a better understanding of eye movement control (in general and at the level of single fixations) and how this is related to the hierarchical cognitive organization. It will be examined 1) what are the neurophysiological mechanisms and involved brain regions responsible for the distractor effect, 2) if and how can different stages of processing expressed in distinct eye movement characteristics explained by the underlying brain activity and 3) how both research lines can converge for an online probing of processing modes? Carrying out the project, the fellow will acquire new skills such as the parallel recording of eye movements and MEG. After the fellowship the applicant intends to establish a junior research group under his leadership. His long-term career objective is a professorship at a European university. EyeLevel will provide the prerequisites therefore, in particular through managing this project and by gaining international research experience. EyeLevel thereby contributes to the applicant's career development and the enhancement of European excellence in the field of neuroscience.