Peripheral vision and crowding in mental maze-solving

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2024

Abstract

Solving a maze effectively relies on both perception and cognition. Studying maze-solving behavior contributes to our knowledge about these important processes. Through psychophysical experiments and modeling simulations, we examine the role of peripheral vision, specifically visual crowding in the periphery, in mental maze-solving. Experiment 1 measured gaze patterns while varying maze complexity, revealing a direct relationship between visual complexity and maze-solving efficiency. Simulations of the maze-solving task using a peripheral vision model confirmed the observed crowding effects while making an intriguing prediction that saccades provide a conservative measure of how far ahead observers can perceive the path. Experiment 2 confirms that observers can judge whether a point lies on the path at considerably greater distances than their average saccade. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that peripheral vision plays a key role in mental maze-solving.

Identifier

85191400406 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Journal of Vision

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1167/JOV.24.4.22

e-ISSN

15347362

PubMed ID

38662347

First Page

1

Last Page

13

Issue

4

Volume

24

Grant

IIS-1607486

Fund Ref

National Science Foundation

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