Is there more to visual attention than meets the eye?

Models of saccade generation and visual selective attention must explain ho w and why particular targets are selected. Findlay & Walker do an excellent job of explaining the how of visual selection, hut not the why. For a sali ence map eo be more than a description of the relative importance of potent ial targets, there must be some account of the learning and inheritance tha t fashion its peeks and troughs. Point of gaze is not necessarily region of attention, and it may be premature to downgrade the role of covert attenti on in models of visual selection.