The interplay between motor cost and self-efficacy related to walking across terrain in gaze and walking decisions

Motor behaviours, like where to step and which path to walk, rely on gaze shifts to gather visual information necessary to decide the next action. Factors influencing both gaze and walking decisions are poorly understood. Here we had people choose between two paths to determine how a person's belief in their ability to walk across different terrains (i.e., self-efficacy) competed with the expected cost of walking different lengths in deciding how to allocate gaze and the choice of path. When paths differed in both length and terrain, participants directed gaze progressively more to the longer path as self-efficacy about it increased and the difference in rating with the shorter path grew. Participants also chose the higher-rated path more frequently regardless of path length. These results demonstrate that self-efficacy contributes to gaze and walking decisions and suggest that it may play a more dominant role versus energetic cost in both behaviours.