Belief embodiment through eye movements facilitates memory-guided navigation.

ABSTRACT: The brain evolved to navigate a dynamic and uncertain world, but the mechanisms underlying ethologically-relevant behavioral strategies remain unclear. In the real-world, such strategies are shaped both by task demands and by the cognitive resources available to the animal. We hypothesized that eye movements constitute a vital cognitive resource to support neural computations for memory-guided navigation. We tested this using a naturalistic task in which humans use a joystick to steer and catch flashing targets in a virtual environment lacking explicit position cues. While navigating to the goal, participants physically track the latent target position with their gaze even in the absence of optic flow, demonstrating that these task-relevant eye movements reflect an embodiment of the subjec

SUBMITTER: Stavropoulos A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12717233 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature