scholarly journals What Can 1 Million Trials Tell Us About Visual Search?

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy M. Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Retrospective Study ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Search Behavior ◽  
Set Size ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Search Processes ◽  
Search Experiment

In a typical visual search experiment, observers look through a set of items for a designated target that may or may not be present. Reaction time (RT) is measured as a function of the number of items in the display (set size), and inferences about the underlying search processes are based on the slopes of the resulting RT x Set Size functions. Most search experiments involve 5 to 15 subjects performing a few hundred trials each. In this retrospective study, I examine results from 2,500 experimental sessions of a few hundred trials each (approximately 1 million total trials). These data represent a wide variety of search tasks. The resulting picture of human search behavior requires changes in our theories of visual search.

scholarly journals Role of symmetry and simplicity in shape disruption perception tasks

Psihologija ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marija Milisavljevic ◽  
Slobodan Markovic ◽  
Vasilije Gvozdenovic
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Visual Perception ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Dominant Effect ◽  
Set Size ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
Search Experiment ◽  
And Performance

Purpose of the present research was further examination of roles of symmetry and complexity in visual perception tasks. We tested hypothesis from perceptual economy theory, and since we used shape disruptions as one of the stimulus characteristics we could also address Luccio?s two step theory concerning perception of shape disruptions on good forms. Four experiments were conducted, visual search and simultaneous and delayed matching. Symmetry and complexity were varied, as well as set size in visual search experiment. Dependent variables were reaction time and error number. In all four experiments, symmetry had dominant effect, while significant effect of complexity was registered only in Experiment 1. However, in first three experiments interaction of symmetry and complexity was also significant. Analysis of reaction times and performance suggested that our results follow the pattern suggested by perceptual economy, i.e. that symmetry is dominant in easier tasks, while complexity was significant in most difficult task. Our results couldn?t completely support Luccio?s assumption that shape disruption is better perceived on good forms, although it can?t be completely discarded.

Effect of Attention on the Detection and Identification of Masked Spatial Patterns

Perception ◽  
10.1068/p5276 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Endel Põder
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Signal Detection Theory ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Small Target ◽  
Crowding Effect ◽  
Identification Task ◽  
Set Size ◽  
Detection And Identification ◽  
Search Experiment

The effect of attention on the detection and identification of vertically and horizontally oriented Gabor patterns in the condition of simultaneous masking with obliquely oriented Gabors was studied. Attention was manipulated by varying the set size in a visual-search experiment. In the first experiment, small target Gabors were presented on the background of larger masking Gabors. In the detection task, the effect of set size was as predicted by unlimited-capacity signal detection theory. In the orientation identification task, increasing the set size from 1 to 8 resulted in a much larger decline in performance. The results of the additional experiments suggest that attention can reduce the crowding effect of maskers.

scholarly journals Towards Interactive Search: Investigating Visual Search in a Novel Real-World Paradigm

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 927
Author(s):  
Marian Sauter ◽  
Maximilian Stefani ◽  
Wolfgang Mack
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Real World ◽  
Search Behavior ◽  
Natural Scenes ◽  
The Real ◽  
Interactive Search ◽  
Search Processes ◽  
Interactive Nature ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Static Pictures

An overwhelming majority of studies on visual search and selective attention were conducted using computer screens. There are arguably shortcomings in transferring knowledge from computer-based studies to real-world search behavior as findings are based on viewing static pictures on computer screens. This does not go well with the dynamic and interactive nature of vision in the real world. It is crucial to take visual search research to the real world in order to study everyday visual search processes. The aim of the present study was to develop an interactive search paradigm that can serve as a “bridge” between classical computerized search and everyday interactive search. We based our search paradigm on simple LEGO® bricks arranged on tabletop trays to ensure comparability with classical computerized visual search studies while providing room for easily increasing the complexity of the search environment. We found that targets were grasped slower when there were more distractors (Experiment 1) and there were sizable differences between various search conditions (Experiment 2), largely in line with classical visual search research and revealing similarities to research in natural scenes. Therefore, our paradigm can be seen as a valuable asset complementing visual search research in an environment between computerized search and everyday search.

Contextual and social cues may dominate natural visual search

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Henriksson ◽  
Riitta Hari
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Search Behavior ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Social Stimuli ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
And Task

AbstractA framework where only the size of the functional visual field of fixations can vary is hardly able to explain natural visual-search behavior. In real-world search tasks, context guides eye movements, and task-irrelevant social stimuli may capture the gaze.

scholarly journals Individual differences in visual search performance extend from artificial arrays to naturalistic environments.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas L. Botch ◽  
Brenda D. Garcia ◽  
Yeo Bi Choi ◽  
Caroline E. Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Real World ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Search Behavior ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Set Size ◽  
Visual Clutter

Visual search is a universal human activity in naturalistic environments. Traditionally, visual search is investigated under tightly controlled conditions, where head-restricted participants locate a minimalistic target in a cluttered array presented on a computer screen. Do classic findings of visual search extend to naturalistic settings, where participants actively explore complex, real-world scenes? Here, we leverage advances in virtual reality (VR) technology to relate individual differences in classic visual search paradigms to naturalistic search behavior. In a naturalistic visual search task, participants looked for an object within their environment via a combination of head-turns and eye-movements using a head-mounted display. Then, in a classic visual search task, participants searched for a target within a simple array of colored letters using only eye-movements. We tested how set size, a property known to limit visual search within computer displays, predicts the efficiency of search behavior inside immersive, real-world scenes that vary in levels of visual clutter. We found that participants' search performance was impacted by the level of visual clutter within real-world scenes. Critically, we also observed that individual differences in visual search efficiency in classic search predicted efficiency in real-world search, but only when the comparison was limited to the forward-facing field of view for real-world search. These results demonstrate that set size is a reliable predictor of individual performance across computer-based and active, real-world visual search behavior.

Examining the Effect of Grouping Border Type on Visual Search Performance

2007 ◽  
Vol 51 (18) ◽  
pp. 1191-1194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiva Naidu
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Single Character ◽  
Global Perception ◽  
The Individual

Past research has shown that enclosing a group of items within a border can actually slow the reaction time of individuals during search tasks. Navon (1977) and Mermelstein, Banks, & Prinzmetal (1979) suggested that individual components are “hidden” within a larger group formed by borders because global perception comes before perception of the individual items. This study tried to identify the minimal visual cues needed to effectively produce perception of grouping. Different border types, including solid lines, dashed lines, and simple chevrons were manipulated in order to assess how quickly subjects can detect targets within groups. Results indicated that the single character condition was significantly faster than the double and triple character conditions. In addition, the Full Border condition was also significantly faster than the 1:3 Ratio Border condition.

The Dynamics of Perceptual Learning in Different Visual Search Tasks: Psychophysics and Psychophysiology

Perception ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 232-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
U Leonards ◽  
R Rettenbach ◽  
R Sireteanu
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Error Rate ◽  
Parallel Search ◽  
Additional Line ◽  
Serial Search ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Attentional Load ◽  
Skin Response ◽  
Perceptual Changes

Serial visual search can become parallel with practice (Sireteanu and Rettenbach, 1995 Vision Research35 2037 – 2043). Our purpose was to examine whether psychophysiological indices reflect the changes in reaction time during training. We used targets and distractors that differed either in orientation (‘tilt’), or in local brightness: closed circles with or without an additional line element (‘added line’), or circles with gaps of different width (‘gap’). The subjects’ task was to indicate the presence or absence of a target on a computer screen by immediately pressing a button and pointing to the location of the target if the trial was positive, or raise the hand if negative. No feedback was given. Response time and error rate were recorded. In addition, electrocardiograms, galvanic skin response, respiration rate and amplitude, horizontal eye movements, and electromyograms were monitored. Two naive and two experienced subjects participated in at least 16 experimental sessions. Before training, slopes differed for the three tasks, ranging from parallel search for the feature ‘tilt’ to a very steep serial search for the feature ‘gap’. These differences were reflected in the psychophysiological parameters. Reaction time and error rate decreased continuously with learning, leading to parallel search after prolonged practice for all three tasks (see Nase et al, 1995 Perception24 Supplement, 84). Preliminary results indicate that the psychophysiological measures do not follow the perceptual changes during learning. We conclude that, despite the perceptual parallelisation with practice, the attentional load remains high for initially serial tasks.

Evidence for Attentional Capture by a Surprising Color Singleton in Visual Search

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 499-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gernot Horstmann
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Target Letter ◽  
Attentional Capture ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Color Singleton ◽  
Conjunction Search ◽  
Feature Search ◽  
Set Size ◽  
And Performance

Three experiments were conducted to investigate whether surprising color singletons capture attention. Participants performed a visual search task in which a target letter had to be detected among distractor letters. Experiments 1 and 2 assessed accuracy as the dependent variable. In Experiment 1, the unannounced presentation of a color singleton 500 ms prior to the letters (and in the same position as the target letter) resulted in better performance than in the preceding conjunction search segment, in which no singleton was presented, and performance was as good in this surprise-singleton trial as in the following feature search segment, in which the singleton always coincided with the target. In contrast, no improvement was observed when the color singleton was presented simultaneously with the letters in Experiment 2, indicating that attentional capture occurred later in the surprise trial than in the feature search segment. In Experiment 3, set size was varied, and reaction time was the dependent variable. Reaction time depended on set size in the conjunction search segment, but not in the surprise trial nor in the feature search segment. The results of the three experiments support the view that surprising color singletons capture attention independently of a corresponding attentional set.

Visual Search of Common Scenes

1978 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence S. Meyers ◽  
Robert W. Rhoades
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Time Task ◽  
Search Processes

A visual search reaction time task was used to examine the relationships among encoding, comparison, and search processes. Targets, either pictures of objects or their names, were briefly presented and followed, at stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) ranging from 200 to 2000 ms, by pictorial scenes having a 50% probability of containing the target. Generally, subjects responded more rapidly with picture than word targets, this difference diminishing at longer SOAs. Searches appeared to be restricted to certain portions of the scene depending on the congruency between the target and the scene. The sequence of decisions in the search task was discussed.

Information Processing in a Binary Classification Task

1979 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 851-861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cephas J. Adkins ◽  
Ben B. Morgan ◽  
Earl A. Alluisi
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Choice Reaction Time ◽  
Display Size ◽  
Binary Classification ◽  
Limited Capacity ◽  
The Third ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Within Subjects

Three choice-reaction time studies were conducted to investigate whether information processing is exhaustive or self-terminating, serial or parallel, and N-dependent or N-independent. A total of 54 subjects were requited to make key-pressing responses to one, two, or three digits presented in a circular display; one key was pressed if the display contained one or more target digits and another key was pressed if the display contained only nontarget digits. The first two studies utilized within-subjects designs in which the displays were consttucted from only one target and one nontarget item (Study 1) or from three target and seven nontarget items (Study 2). The third study used a between-subjects design in which different groups of subjects responded to one-, two-, or three-element displays. In general, the results indicate that CRTs increased as the total number of display elements increased and decreased as the number of target elements (or the ratio of target to nontarget items) increased for a given display size. When only target elements were presented, CRT was independent of the number of elements displayed, and when only one target was presented, CRT increased as total number of elements increased. These combined results are interpreted as support for the inference that information processing in visual search tasks tends to be self-terminating, serial, and N-dependent (of limited capacity).

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