Designing Combinations of Pictogram and Text Size for Icons: Effects of Text Size, Pictogram Size, and Familiarity on Older Adults’ Visual Search Performance

2021 ◽  
pp. 001872082110619
Author(s):  
Guanhua Hou ◽  
Ying Hu
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Practical Support ◽  
App Design ◽  
Tracking Technology

Objective This study aimed to determine suitable combinations of text and pictogram sizes for older adults and investigated the visual prioritization of pictogram versus text. Background Icons have become an indispensable part of application (app) design. Pictogram size and text size of icons influence the usability of apps, especially by aged users. However, few studies have investigated the influences of different pictogram and text size combinations on readability, legibility, and visual search performance for older adults. Method This study used eye-tracking technology to investigate the effects of different pictogram and text size combinations as well as familiarity on readability, legibility, and visual search performance for older adults. A 3 (pictogram size) × 3 (text size) × 2 (familiarity) repeated-measures experimental design was used. Results The results of this study suggest that pictogram size and text size significantly affect visual search performance and that familiarity moderates the effect of text size on distribution of fixation duration proportion for text and pictograms. Conclusion Large pictogram and text sizes improved the readability and legibility of icons for older adults. Furthermore, the older adults fixated the area of text prior to pictograms when the pictogram size was larger than 72 × 72 px (1.38° × 1.38°) in the visual search task. Application The results of this study suggest using different combinations of pictogram and text sizes for older adults under different scenarios. The findings of this study act as practical support for designers and developers of mobile apps for older adults.

The efficiency of visual search for a frequently changed target is preserved in older adults

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182098635
Author(s):  
Hana Yabuki ◽  
Stephanie C Goodhew
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Target Type ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Trial Basis

Visual search is a psychological function integral to most people’s daily lives. The extent to which visual search efficiency, and in particular the ability to use top-down attention in visual search, changes across the lifespan has been the focus of ongoing research. Here we sought to understand how the ability to frequently and dynamically change the target in a conjunction search task was affected by ageing. To do this, we compared visual search performance of a group of younger and older adults under conditions in which the target type was determined by a cue and could change on trial-to-trial basis (Intermixed), versus when the target type was fixed for a block of trials (Blocked). Although older adults were overall slower at the conjunction visual search task, and both groups were slower in the Intermixed compared with the Blocked Condition, older adults were not disproportionately affected by the Intermixed relative to the Blocked conditions. These results indicate that the ability to frequently change the target of visual search is preserved in older adults. This conclusion is consistent with an emerging consensus that many aspects of visual search and top-down contributions to it are preserved across the lifespan. It is also consistent with a growing body of work which challenges the neurocognitive theories of ageing that predict sweeping deficits in complex top-down components of cognition.

scholarly journals The Effect of Information Organization on Cognitive Workload and Visual Search Performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 302-306
Author(s):  
Jeffrey C. Joe ◽  
Casey R. Kovesdi ◽  
Andrea Mack ◽  
Tina Miyake
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Information Organization ◽  
Cognitive Workload ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Speed Accuracy ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Accuracy Tradeoff

This study examined the relationship between how visual information is organized and people’s visual search performance. Specifically, we systematically varied how visual search information was organized (from well-organized to disorganized), and then asked participants to perform a visual search task involving finding and identifying a number of visual targets within the field of visual non-targets. We hypothesized that the visual search task would be easier when the information was well-organized versus when it was disorganized. We further speculated that visual search performance would be mediated by cognitive workload, and that the results could be generally described by the well-established speed-accuracy tradeoff phenomenon. This paper presents the details of the study we designed and our results.

Cyclical Variation in Digit-Span and Visual-Search Performance in Women Differing in the Severity of Their Premenstrual Symptoms

1992 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Diener ◽  
Francine Linda Greenstein ◽  
P. Diane Turnbough
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Menstrual Phase ◽  
Premenstrual Symptoms ◽  
Cyclical Variation ◽  
Menstrual Cycles ◽  
Cyclical Fluctuation

Groups of women differing in the severity of reported premenstrual symptoms were compared over two menstrual cycles on a digit-span task, a visual-search task, and a combination of the two. Neither group exhibited large performance changes during the premenstrual phase of the cycle. High-symptom women differed somewhat from low-symptom women in the effect of menstrual phase on digit-span performance, recalling slightly fewer series correctly during the premenstrual phase. The response latency of high-symptom women on the visual-search task was substantially longer than that of the low-symptom women regardless of menstrual phase. These results suggest that there may be stable differences between high-symptom and low-symptom subjects that are greater than the cyclical fluctuation within either group.

The Impact of Age on Visual Search Performance

1993 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Manivannan ◽  
Sara Czaja ◽  
Colin Drury ◽  
Chi Ming Ip
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Performance Effect ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Impact

Visual search is an important component of many real world tasks such as industrial inspection and driving. Several studies have shown that age has an impact on visual search performance. In general older people demonstrate poorer performance on such tasks as compared to younger people. However, there is controversy regarding the source of the age-performance effect. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between component abilities and visual search performance, in order to identify the locus of age-related performance differences. Six abilities including reaction time, working memory, selective attention and spatial localization were identified as important components of visual search performance. Thirty-two subjects ranging in age from 18 - 84 years, categorized in three different age groups (young, middle, and older) participated in the study. Their component abilities were measured and they performed a visual search task. The visual search task varied in complexity in terms of type of targets detected. Significant relationships were found between some of the component skills and search performance. Significant age effects were also observed. A model was developed using hierarchical multiple linear regression to explain the variance in search performance. Results indicated that reaction time, selective attention, and age were important predictors of search performance with reaction time and selective attention accounting for most of the variance.

scholarly journals Be there on time: Spatial-temporal regularities guide young children’s attention in dynamic environments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nir Shalev ◽  
Sage Boettcher ◽  
Hannah Wilkinson ◽  
Gaia Scerif ◽  
Anna C. Nobre
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Dynamic Environments ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Search Designs ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Extended Dynamic

It is believed that children have difficulties in guiding attention while facing distraction. However, developmental accounts of spatial attention rely on traditional search designs using static displays. In real life, dynamic environments can embed regularities that afford anticipation and benefit performance. We developed a dynamic visual-search task to test the ability of children to benefit from spatio-temporal regularities to detect goal-relevant targets appearing within an extended dynamic context amidst irrelevant distracting stimuli. We compared children and adults in detecting predictable vs. unpredictable targets fading in and out among competing distracting stimuli. While overall search performance was poorer in children, both groups detected more predictable targets. This effect was confined to task-relevant information. Additionally, we report how predictions are related to individual differences in attention. Altogether, our results indicate a striking capacity of prediction-led guidance towards task-relevant information in dynamic environments, refining traditional views about poor goal-driven attention in childhood.

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

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.

Visual Search Performance by Paranoid and Chronic Undifferentiated Schizophrenics

1981 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 411-418
Author(s):  
Lance A. Portnoff ◽  
Jerome A. Yesavage ◽  
Mary B. Acker
Keyword(s):  
Differential Diagnosis ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Cross Validation ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Attentional Deficits ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Chronic Schizophrenics ◽  
Stimulus Mode

Disturbances in attention are among the most frequent cognitive abnormalities in schizophrenia. Recent research has suggested that some schizophrenics have difficulty with visual tracking, which is suggestive of attentional deficits. To investigate differential visual-search performance by schizophrenics, 15 chronic undifferentiated and 15 paranoid schizophrenics were compared with 15 normals on two tests measuring visual search in a systematic and an unsystematic stimulus mode. Chronic schizophrenics showed difficulty with both kinds of visual-search tasks. In contrast, paranoids had only a deficit in the systematic visual-search task. Their ability for visual search in an unsystematized stimulus array was equivalent to that of normals. Although replication and cross-validation is needed to confirm these findings, it appears that the two tests of visual search may provide a useful ancillary method for differential diagnosis between these two types of schizophrenia.

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.

Self-Directed Speech Affects Visual Search Performance

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (6) ◽  
pp. 1068-1085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Lupyan ◽  
Daniel Swingley
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Visual Target ◽  
Strong Association ◽  
Perceptual Processing ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
System A ◽  
Power Of Words

People often talk to themselves, yet very little is known about the functions of this self-directed speech. We explore effects of self-directed speech on visual processing by using a visual search task. According to the label feedback hypothesis (Lupyan, 2007a), verbal labels can change ongoing perceptual processing—for example, actually hearing “chair” compared to simply thinking about a chair can temporarily make the visual system a better “chair detector”. Participants searched for common objects, while being sometimes asked to speak the target's name aloud. Speaking facilitated search, particularly when there was a strong association between the name and the visual target. As the discrepancy between the name and the target increased, speaking began to impair performance. Together, these results speak to the power of words to modulate ongoing visual processing.

scholarly journals Older adults detect happy facial expressions less rapidly

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 191715
Author(s):  
Akie Saito ◽  
Wataru Sato ◽  
Sakiko Yoshikawa
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Experimental Psychology ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Visual Properties

Previous experimental psychology studies based on visual search paradigms have reported that young adults detect emotional facial expressions more rapidly than emotionally neutral expressions. However, it remains unclear whether this holds in older adults. We investigated this by comparing the abilities of young and older adults to detect emotional and neutral facial expressions while controlling the visual properties of faces presented (termed anti-expressions) in a visual search task. Both age groups detected normal angry faces more rapidly than anti-angry faces. However, whereas young adults detected normal happy faces more rapidly than anti-happy faces, older adults did not. This suggests that older adults may not be easy to detect or focusing attention towards smiling faces appearing peripherally.

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