Stochastic optimal control and the human oculomotor system

Neuroscientists have long been interested in how efficiently we solve proba bilistic sensory problems. In order to explore analogous questions in the m otor domain, we observed the eye movements of human subjects attempting to track a visual target which moved stochastically across a computer screen. The subjects' behavior was then compared to a mathematically-derived bound on the best performance possible in such a task. The subjects were able to perform surprisingly near the optimum under the conditions examined. These results constitute an important step in determining the efficiency of the n ervous system in the context of ongoing behavior. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.