In oculomotor selection, each saccade is thought to be automatically biased towards uninspected locations, inhibiting the inefficient behavior of repeatedly re-fixating the same objects. This automatic bias is related to inhibition of return (IOR). Although IOR seems an appealing property that increases efficiency in visual search, such a mechanism would not be efficient in other tasks. Indeed, evidence for additional, more flexible control over re-fixations has been provided.
