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Abstract
The understanding of the control of eye movements has greatly benefited from the analysis
of mathematical models. Currently most comprehensive models include sequential shifts
of visual attention. Here we propose an alternative model of eye movement control,
which includes three new principles: spatially distributed lexical processing, a separation
of saccade timing from saccade target selection, and autonomous (random) generation
of saccades with foveal inhibition. These three features provide a common control
mechanism for fixations, refixations, and regressions. Consequently, the model is
called SWIFT (Saccade-generation with inhibition by foveal targets). Results from
numerical simulations are in good agreement with effects of word frequency on single-fixation,
first-fixation, and gaze durations as well as fixation and word skipping probabilities
in first-pass analysis. The model inherently produces complex eye movement patterns
including refixations and regressions due to its underlying dynamical principles.