Assignment of credit and constraints on eye movement learning – ACES

Saccades and smooth pursuit eye movements are extremely plastic and previous evidence demonstrated that human observers learn to adjust these movements depending on the reinforcement contingencies. However, limitations on eye movement contextual learning have been reported which we attribute to the assignment of credit, i.e. the ability to connect causes and effects. We propose a conceptual model accounting for contextual motor learning that rely on competing credit assignment hypotheses. The objective of ACES is to investigate the conditions under which the nature of the events might constrain contextual learning for pursuit and saccades. We will conduct a series of experiments in humans and develop a computational model based on the active-inference framework to probe our conceptual model. Overall, ACES should significantly enhance our knowledge regarding the eye movement plasticity and provide a solid general framework for contextual motor learning.