Intelligence and information processing during a visual search task in children: an event-related potential study

Links between attention and emotion were investigated by obtaining electrophysiological measures of attentional selectivity together with behavioral measures of affective evaluation. Participants were asked to rate faces that had just been presented as targets or distractors in a visual search task. Distractors were rated as less trustworthy than targets. To study the association between the efficiency of selective attention during visual search and subsequent emotional responses, the N2pc component was quantified as a function of evaluative judgments. Evaluation of distractor faces (but not target faces) covaried with selective attention. On trials where distractors were later judged negatively, the N2pc emerged earlier, demonstrating that attention was strongly biased toward target events, and distractors were effectively inhibited. When previous distractors were judged positively, the N2pc was delayed, indicating unfocused attention to the target and less distractor suppression. Variations in attentional selectivity across trials can predict subsequent emotional responses, strongly suggesting that attention is closely associated with subsequent affective evaluation.

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The forest, the trees, and the leaves across adulthood: Age-related changes on a visual search task containing three-level hierarchical stimuli

Attention Perception & Psychophysics ◽

10.3758/s13414-021-02438-3 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Sabrina Bouhassoun ◽

Nicolas Poirel ◽

Noah Hamlin ◽

Gaelle E. Doucet

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Information Processing ◽

Visual Search ◽

Visual Information ◽

Healthy Aging ◽

Search Task ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Local Processing ◽

Global Precedence ◽

Hierarchical Stimuli

AbstractSelecting relevant visual information in complex scenes by processing either global information or local parts helps us act efficiently within our environment and achieve goals. A global advantage (faster global than local processing) and global interference (global processing interferes with local processing) comprise an evidentiary global precedence phenomenon in early adulthood. However, the impact of healthy aging on this phenomenon remains unclear. As such, we collected behavioral data during a visual search task, including three-levels hierarchical stimuli (i.e., global, intermediate, and local levels) with several hierarchical distractors, in 50 healthy adults (26 younger (mean age: 26 years) and 24 older (mean age: 62 years)). Results revealed that processing information presented at the global and intermediate levels was independent of age. Conversely, older adults were slower for local processing compared to the younger adults, suggesting lower efficiency to deal with visual distractors during detail-oriented visual search. Although healthy older adults continued exhibiting a global precedence phenomenon, they were disproportionately less efficient during local aspects of information processing, especially when multiple visual information was displayed. Our results could have important implications for many life situations by suggesting that visual information processing is impacted by healthy aging, even with similar visual stimuli objectively presented.

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Arousal and Cognition: Word Arousal and Visual Search

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1976.43.3.699 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 43 (3) ◽

pp. 699-702

Author(s):

Frank H. Farley ◽

Shu-Jen Yen

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Visual Search ◽

Problem Solving ◽

Target Word ◽

High Speed ◽

Processing Time ◽

Search Task ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Random Letter ◽

List Learning

The influence of target-word affective properties on information processing time in a high speed visual-search task was studied. The 24 words were embedded in random-letter matrices, with one word per matrix. Subjects (5 male, 5 female) were tested. Words extreme on emotionality (positive vs negative affect) yielded significantly longer latencies than neutral words. The results were discussed in the light of related list-learning and problem-solving research.

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Influence of Selection Difficulty on the Time Required for Icon Formation

Perception ◽

10.1068/p050225 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 225-231

Author(s):

Robert T Solman

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Visual Search ◽

Search Task ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Probability Distributions ◽

Target Selection ◽

The Other ◽

Cumulative Probability ◽

Physical Similarity ◽

Time Required

By increasing the number of display items and the physical similarity between the target and the irrelevant items it was possible to vary the difficulty of target selection in a visual-search task. The results showed that the accuracy with which the target was located declined as target selection became more difficult. On the other hand, estimates of the cumulative probability and the probability distributions of times necessary to form the icon indicated that these times were not influenced by changes in the difficulty of the task. The latter result supports Neisser's suggestion that the information processing carried out during the first stage of analysis can be attributed to the action of a distinct cognitive mechanism.

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Evolutionary Relevance Facilitates Visual Information Processing

Evolutionary Psychology ◽

10.1177/147470491301100506 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 147470491301100 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Russell E. Jackson ◽

Dustin P. Calvillo

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Visual Search ◽

Human Behavior ◽

Visual Information ◽

Search Task ◽

Perceptual Load ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Visual Information Processing ◽

Significant Component ◽

Evolutionary Consequences

Visual search of the environment is a fundamental human behavior that perceptual load affects powerfully. Previously investigated means for overcoming the inhibitions of high perceptual load, however, generalize poorly to real-world human behavior. We hypothesized that humans would process evolutionarily relevant stimuli more efficiently than evolutionarily novel stimuli, and evolutionary relevance would mitigate the repercussions of high perceptual load during visual search. Animacy is a significant component to evolutionary relevance of visual stimuli because perceiving animate entities is time-sensitive in ways that pose significant evolutionary consequences. Participants completing a visual search task located evolutionarily relevant and animate objects fastest and with the least impact of high perceptual load. Evolutionarily novel and inanimate objects were located slowest and with the highest impact of perceptual load. Evolutionary relevance may importantly affect everyday visual information processing.

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