A Resource-Rational Principle for Modeling Visual Attention Control

TL;DR

This paper introduces a resource-rational, simulation-based model of visual attention control that explains eye-movement behaviors as optimal adaptations under perceptual and memory constraints, applicable to tasks like reading and multitasking.

Contribution

It develops a formal, unified framework for modeling visual attention as a bounded-optimal control problem using POMDPs, enabling rational emergence of eye movements.

Findings

Reproduces classic empirical effects of visual attention.

Explains trade-offs between comprehension and safety.

Generates novel predictions under different conditions.

Abstract

Understanding how people allocate visual attention is central to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), yet existing computational models of attention are often either descriptive, task-specific, or difficult to interpret. My dissertation develops a resource-rational, simulation-based framework for modeling visual attention as a sequential decision-making process under perceptual, memory, and time constraints. I formalize visual tasks, such as reading and multitasking, as bounded-optimal control problems using Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes, enabling eye-movement behaviors such as fixation and attention switching to emerge from rational adaptation rather than being hand-coded or purely data-driven. These models are instantiated in simulation environments spanning traditional text reading and reading-while-walking with smart glasses, where they reproduce classic empirical effects, explain observed trade-offs between comprehension and safety, and generate novel predictions under time pressure and interface variation. Collectively, this work contributes a unified computational account of visual attention, offering new tools for theory-driven and resource-efficient HCI design.