Spatial Attention in Visual Search for Features and Feature Conjunctions

1995 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 376-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min-Shik Kim ◽  
Kyle R. Cave
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Direct Measurement ◽  
Probe Method ◽  
Conjunction Search ◽  
Attentional Allocation ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Accuracy Measures ◽  
Speed And Accuracy

Spatial attention was measured in visual search tasks using a spatial probe Both speed and accuracy measures showed that in a conjunction task, spatial attention was allocated to locations according to the presence of target features Also, contrary to some predictions, spatial attention was used when a clearly distinguishable feature defined the target The results raise questions about any account that assumes separate mechanisms for feature and conjunction search The probe method demonstrated here allows a very direct measurement of attentional allocation, and may uncover aspects of selection not revealed by visual search

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

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.

Measuring and Mitigating the Costs of Attentional Switches in Active Network Monitoring for Cybersecurity

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (7) ◽  
pp. 962-977 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean W. Kortschot ◽  
Dusan Sovilj ◽  
Greg A. Jamieson ◽  
Scott Sanner ◽  
Chelsea Carrasco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Active Network ◽  
Allocation Scheme ◽  
Design Features ◽  
Attentional Allocation ◽  
Operator Performance ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Attentional Switching ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Behavioral Monitoring

Objective: The authors seek to characterize the behavioral costs of attentional switches between points in a network map and assess the efficacy of interventions intended to reduce those costs. Background: Cybersecurity network operators are tasked with determining an appropriate attentional allocation scheme given the state of the network, which requires repeated attentional switches. These attentional switches may result in temporal performance decrements, during which operators disengage from one attentional fixation point and engage with another. Method: We ran two experiments where participants identified a chain of malicious emails within a network. All interactions with the system were logged and analyzed to determine if users experienced disengagement and engagement delays. Results: Both experiments revealed significant costs from attentional switches before (i.e., disengagement) and after (i.e., engagement) participants navigated to a new area in the network. In our second experiment, we found that interventions aimed at contextualizing navigation actions lessened both disengagement and engagement delays. Conclusion: Attentional switches are detrimental to operator performance. Their costs can be reduced by design features that contextualize navigations through an interface. Application: This research can be applied to the identification and mitigation of attentional switching costs in a variety of visual search tasks. Furthermore, it demonstrates the efficacy of noninvasive behavioral monitoring for inferring cognitive events.

Allocation of Attention in Texture Segregation, Visual Search, and Location-Precuing Paradigms

1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
MaryLou Cheal ◽  
Don R. Lyon
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Common Mechanism ◽  
Search Rate ◽  
Texture Segregation ◽  
Search Tasks

Is there a common mechanism (or set of mechanisms) that controls the allocation of spatial attention in texture segregation, visual search, and location-precuing tasks? This question was addressed by comparing data from our previous research on location-cuing and search tasks with data from a new set of experiments on texture segregation, in which a common set of stimuli was used across the three paradigms. However, when we ranked the scores for the targets on texture segregation speed, search rate, and improvement due to precuing effects, agreement between these measures was less than perfect. Further analyses of these results led to the following conclusions: (a) speed of texture segregation is affected by perceptual aspects of the display other than the attentional salience of a particular target; (b) visual search rate and the size of precuing effects are strongly related over most of the set of targets we used; and (c) some cases in which search rate was not consistent with size of precue effects may be related to the presence of nearby distractors in the search task.

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

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

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

1998 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Stivalet ◽  
Yvan Moreno ◽  
Joëlle Richard ◽  
Pierre-Alain Barraud ◽  
Christian Raphel
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Tasks

Curvature is a Basic Feature for Visual Search Tasks

Perception ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy M Wolfe ◽  
Alice Yee ◽  
Stacia R Friedman-Hill
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Basic Feature ◽  
Search Tasks

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

2018 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Visual working memory representations are shifted toward irrelevant features of distractors in intervening visual search tasks

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 311b
Author(s):  
Zachary A Lively ◽  
Gavin JP Ng ◽  
Simona Buetti ◽  
Alejandro Lleras
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Memory Representations
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