Do Intersections Serve as Basic Features in Visual Search?

The status of ‘intersection’ as a basic feature in visual search tasks has been controversial. Under some circumstances, a target possessing this attribute (eg a plus) ‘pops out’ of a display of distractors that lack the attribute (eg Ls). However, those cases may be artifacts of other features such as relative size or number of line terminators. We report two sets of experiments with stimuli intended to control for these factors. Search for the presence or absence of intersections is very inefficient with these stimuli. The results suggest that intersection should not be included among the list of salient features that support efficient search through visual displays.

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Curvature is a Basic Feature for Visual Search Tasks

Perception ◽

10.1068/p210465 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 465-480 ◽

Cited By ~ 68

Author(s):

Jeremy M Wolfe ◽

Alice Yee ◽

Stacia R Friedman-Hill

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Basic Feature ◽

Search Tasks

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The Influence of Stimulus Dimensions and Training on Visual Search Performance

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/154193129403801904 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 38 (19) ◽

pp. 1266-1270

Author(s):

Mary P. Czerwinski ◽

Evan M. Feldman ◽

Edward Cutrell

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

User Interfaces ◽

Graphical User Interfaces ◽

Attention Training ◽

Search Performance ◽

Visual Displays ◽

Search Tasks ◽

Large Influence ◽

Varied Mapping ◽

And Training

Traditional studies of attention, training and visual search have focused on the use of separable dimensions (usually alphanumeric stimuli), and equating the number of items in consistent versus varied mapping training paradigms. However, the design of visual displays requires a heavy reliance upon configural and integral dimensions (stimuli that group). This set of studies examines the effects of configural dimensions (also using alphanumeric stimuli), as well as equating the number of training trials on specific targets between consistent versus varied mapping conditions. Predictions from extant theories of attention and visual search will be discussed where relevant. Results show that both factors have a large influence on the effects of training in visual search tasks. The influence of these variables needs to be incorporated into current theories of attention and visual search, especially as they are applied to the design of graphical user interfaces and visual displays.

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Endogenous and Exogenous Control of Visual Selection

Perception ◽

10.1068/p230429 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 23 (4) ◽

pp. 429-440 ◽

Cited By ~ 137

Author(s):

Jan Theeuwes

Keyword(s):

Visual Field ◽

Visual Attention ◽

Visual Information ◽

Basic Feature ◽

Visual Selection ◽

Endogenous Control ◽

Search Tasks ◽

Central Representation ◽

Basic Features ◽

Exogenous Control

Among the most fundamental issues of visual attention research is the extent to which visual selection is controlled by properties of the stimulus or by the intentions, goals, and beliefs of the observer. Before selective attention operates, preattentive processes perform some basic analyses segmenting the visual field into functional perceptual units. The crucial question is whether the allocation of attention to these perceptual units is under the endogenous control of the observer (intentions, goals, beliefs) or under the exogenous control of stimulation. In this article evidence is discussed regarding the endogenous and exogenous control of attention in tasks in which subjects search for a particular ‘basic’ feature (eg search for a unique colour, shape, or brightness). In the present review it is suggested that selectivity in these types of search tasks is dependent on the relative saliency of the stimulus attributes. It is concluded that the visual system automatically calculates differences in basic features (eg difference in shape, colour, or brightness) and that visual information occupying the position of the highest saliency across stimulus dimensions is exogenously passed on to the ‘central representation’ that is responsible for further stimulus analysis. Alternative explanations of the present findings and tentative speculations resulting from the present approach are discussed.

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In Search of Experience Effects: How TSA Officers Differ From Undergraduates on Visual Search Tasks

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e502412013-046 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Stephen R. Mitroff ◽

Adam T. Biggs ◽

Matthew S. Cain ◽

Elise F. Darling ◽

Kait Clark ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Search Tasks ◽

Experience Effects

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The array-size function in simple visual search tasks: A comparison between a “go- no go” and a “detection” task under conditions of low target-noise similarity

Psychological Research ◽

10.1007/bf00308703 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 45 (3) ◽

pp. 221-234 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

A. H. C. van der Heijden ◽

W. La Heij

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Detection Task ◽

Array Size ◽

Search Tasks ◽

Size Function

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Differences in visual search tasks between congenitally deaf and normally hearing adults

Cognitive Brain Research ◽

10.1016/s0926-6410(97)00026-8 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 227-232 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

Philippe Stivalet ◽

Yvan Moreno ◽

Joëlle Richard ◽

Pierre-Alain Barraud ◽

Christian Raphel

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Search Tasks

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Reading problems and their connection with visual search and attention: The search for a cause continues

10.31234/osf.io/5j9ys ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Heida Maria Sigurdardottir ◽

Hilma Ros Omarsdóttir ◽

Anna Sigridur Valgeirsdottir

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Internal Control ◽

Search Task ◽

Conjunction Search ◽

Reading Problems ◽

Visual Stream ◽

Attentional Processes ◽

Search Tasks ◽

Reading Abilities ◽

Gating Mechanism

Attention has been hypothesized to act as a sequential gating mechanism for the orderly processing of letters in words. These same visuo-attentional processes are assumed to partake in some but not all visual search tasks. In the current study, 60 adults with varying degrees of reading abilities, ranging from expert readers to severely impaired dyslexic readers, completed an attentionally demanding visual conjunction search task thought to heavily rely on the dorsal visual stream. A visual feature search task served as an internal control. According to the dorsal view of dyslexia, reading problems should go hand in hand with specific problems in visual conjunction search – particularly elevated conjunction search slopes (time per search item) – which would be interpreted as a problem with visual attention. Results showed that reading problems were associated with slower visual search, especially conjunction search. However, problems with reading were not associated with increased conjunction search slopes but instead with increased conjunction search intercepts, traditionally not interpreted as reflecting attentional processes. Our data are hard to reconcile with hypothesized problems in dyslexia with the serial moving of an attentional spotlight across a visual scene or a page of text.

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The generality of post-antimicrobial treatment persistence of replicatively-attenuatedBorrelia burgdorferiin a mouse model

10.1101/596122 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Emir Hodzic ◽

Denise M. Imai ◽

Edlin Escobar

Keyword(s):

Mouse Model ◽

Antimicrobial Agents ◽

Basic Feature ◽

Antimicrobial Treatment ◽

Therapy Failure ◽

Treatment Persistence ◽

Disease Resistant ◽

C3h Mice ◽

The Status ◽

Long Time

ABSTRACTA basic feature of infection caused byBorrelia burgdorferi, the etiological agent of Lyme borreliosis, is that persistent infection is the rule, not the norm, in its many hosts. The ability to persist and evade host immune clearance poses a challenge to effective antimicrobial treatment. A link between therapy failure and the presence of persister cells has started to emerge. There is growing experimental evidence that viable, but non-cultivable spirochetes persist following treatment with several different antimicrobial agents, then resurge after 12 months. The current study utilized the mouse model to evaluate if persistence and resurgence occur following antimicrobial treatment in a disease-susceptible (C3H/HeN) and disease-resistant (C57BL/6) mouse strain infected withB. burgdorferistrains N40 and B31, to confirm the generality of these phenomena. The status of infection was evaluated at 12 and 18-months after treatment. The results demonstrated that persistent spirochetes remain viable for up to 18 months following treatment, but divide slowly, thereby being tolerant to the effects of antimicrobial agents, as well as being non-cultivable. The phenomenon of persistence and resurgence in disease-susceptible C3H mice is equally evident in disease-resistant B6 mice, and not unique to any particularB. burgdorferistrain. The results also demonstrate that following antimicrobial treatment, both strains ofB. burgdorferi, N40 and B31, lose one or more small plasmids, resulting in attenuation. The biological relevance of attenuatedB. burgdorferispirochetes is probably inconsequential. The study demonstrated that non-cultivable spirochetes can persist in a host following antimicrobial treatment for a long time but did not demonstrate their clinical relevance in a mouse model of chronic infection.

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Stable individual differences in strategies within, but not between, visual search tasks

10.31234/osf.io/bqa5v ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Alasdair D F Clarke ◽

Jessica Irons ◽

Warren James ◽

Andrew B. Leber ◽

Amelia R. Hunt

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Visual Search ◽

Search Task ◽

The Other ◽

Search Performance ◽

Search Tasks ◽

And Performance ◽

Context Specific ◽

Test Retest Reliability ◽

Over Time

A striking range of individual differences has recently been reported in three different visual search tasks. These differences in performance can be attributed to strategy, that is, the efficiency with which participants control their search to complete the task quickly and accurately. Here we ask if an individual's strategy and performance in one search task is correlated with how they perform in the other two. We tested 64 observers in the three tasks mentioned above over two sessions. Even though the test-retest reliability of the tasks is high, an observer's performance and strategy in one task did not reliably predict their behaviour in the other two. These results suggest search strategies are stable over time, but context-specific. To understand visual search we therefore need to account not only for differences between individuals, but also how individuals interact with the search task and context. These context-specific but stable individual differences in strategy can account for a substantial proportion of variability in search performance.

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