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.

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.

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.

scholarly journals Emotional metacontrol of attention: Top-down modulation of sensorimotor processes in a robotic visual search task

PLoS ONE ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. e0184960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marwen Belkaid ◽  
Nicolas Cuperlier ◽  
Philippe Gaussier
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Sensorimotor Processes

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 Top-down and bottom-up influences on saccades in a visual search task

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 449-449
Author(s):  
B. R. Beutter ◽  
J. Toscano ◽  
L. S. Stone
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up

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.

Bottom-up perceptual salience and top-down retro-cues concurrently determine state in visual working memory

2020 ◽  
pp. 174702182096626
Author(s):  
Lingxia Fan ◽  
Lin Zhang ◽  
Liuting Diao ◽  
Mengsi Xu ◽  
Ruiyang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Salient Feature ◽  
Active State ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Perceptual Salience

Recent studies have demonstrated that in visual working memory (VWM), only items in an active state can guide attention. Further evidence has revealed that items with higher perceptual salience or items prioritised by a valid retro-cue in VWM tend to be in an active state. However, it is unclear which factor (perceptual salience or retro-cues) is more important for influencing the item state in VWM or whether the factors can act concurrently. Experiment 1 examined the role of perceptual salience by asking participants to hold two features with relatively different perceptual salience (colour vs. shape) in VWM while completing a visual search task. Guidance effects were found when either colour or both colour and shape in VWM matched one of the search distractors but not when shape matched. This demonstrated that the more salient feature in VWM can actively guide attention, while the less salient feature cannot. However, when shape in VWM was cued to be more relevant (prioritised) in Experiment 2, we found guidance effects in both colour-match and shape-match conditions. That is, both more salient but non-cued colour and less salient but cued shape could be active in VWM, such that attentional selection was affected by the matching colour or shape in the visual search task. This suggests that bottom-up perceptual salience and top-down retro-cues can jointly determine the active state in VWM.

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