A proposal for saliency computation within the visual cortex is put forth based on the premise that localized saliency computation serves to maximize information sampled from one's environment. The model is built entirely on computational constraints but nevertheless results in an architecture with cells and connectivity reminiscent of that appearing in the visual cortex. It is demonstrated that a variety of visual search behaviors appear as emergent properties of the model and therefore basic principles of coding and information transmission. Experimental results demonstrate greater efficacy in predicting fixation patterns across two different data sets as compared with competing models.