HIGHLIGHTS: ▸ Gaze position was tracked during navigation in two virtual Morris water mazes (MWM).▸ In a standard allocentric maze, gaze position was biased to distal, configurational stimuli.▸ In a cued-platform egocentric maze, gaze position was biased to cues proximal to the platform.▸ Thus, gaze position reflected the navigational strategy in use at the time.▸ These results validate a new method for assessing navigational strategies in humans. ABSTRACT: We present a novel method of combining eye tracking with specially designed virtual environments to provide objective evidence of navigational strategy selection. A simple, inexpensive video camera with an easily built infrared LED array is used to capture eye movements at 60 Hz. Simple algorithms analyze gaze position at the start of each virtual maze trial to identify stimuli used for navigational orientation. To validate the methodology, human participants were tested in two virtual environments which differed with respect to features usable for navigation and which forced participants to use one or another of two well-known navigational strategies. Because the environmental features for the two kinds of navigation were clustered in different regions of the environment (and the video display), a simple analysis of gaze-position during the first (i.e., orienting) second of each trial revealed which features were being attended to, and therefore, which navigational strategy was about to be employed on the upcoming trial.