The human visual system is amazing in its ability to guide us in a diverse range of everyday tasks - driving, preparing food, reading - in addition to leisurely pursuits such as ball games, or reading music. Somehow, without conscious effort, our eyes find the information we need to negotiate the world around us. Only recently, however, has it become possible to explore just how it is that our eyes can supply the brain systems controlling our limbs, with the
information they need to carry out these tasks. Thanks to the development of head-mounted eye trackers, we can now explore the strategies that the eye movement system uses in the initiation and guidance of
action. 'Looking and acting' explores a wide variety of visually guided activities - from sedentary acitivities such as reading music, or drawing, to dynamic behaviours such as driving or playing cricket. It proposes that the eye movement system has its own store of knowledge about where to find the most appropriate information for guiding action - information not often available to conscious scrutiny. Thus, every action has its own specific repertoire of linked eye
movements. The book starts with a brief background of eye movement studies. Part 2 reviews observations and analyses of different activities. Finally, the book looks at visual representations, the
neurophysiology of the brain systems involved, and the roles of attention and learning. Opening up a whole new field in eye movement research, the fascinating new book will be of great interest to all vision scientists, (psychologists, physiologists , ophthalmologists) whether at professional, graduate, or advanced undergraduate levels.
