Tracking the mind’s eye: Primate gaze behavior during virtual visuomotor navigation reflects belief dynamics

Abstract

SUMMARYTo take the best actions, we often need to maintain and update beliefs about variables that cannot be directly observed. To understand the principles underlying such belief updates, we need tools to uncover subjects’ belief dynamics from natural behaviour. We tested whether eye movements could be used to infer subjects’ beliefs about latent variables using a naturalistic, visuomotor navigation task. We observed eye movements that appeared to continuously track the goal location even when no visible target was present there. Accurate goal-tracking was associated with improved task performance, and inhibiting eye movements in humans impaired navigation precision. By using passive stimulus playback and manipulating stimulus reliability, we show that subjects’ eye movements are likely voluntary, rather than reflexive. These results suggest that gaze dynamics play a key role in action-selection during challenging visuomotor behaviours, and may possibly serve as a window into the subject’s dynamically evolving internal beliefs.