scholarly journals Predicting Search Performance in Heterogeneous Visual Search Scenes with Real-World Objects

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiyuan Wang ◽  
Simona Buetti ◽  
Alejandro Lleras
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Real World ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Computational Simulations ◽  
Fixed Target ◽  
Set Size ◽  
Search Data ◽  
Exhaustive Processing ◽  
Processing Architecture

Previous work in our lab has demonstrated that efficient visual search with a fixed target has a reaction time by set size function that is best characterized by logarithmic curves. Further, the steepness of these logarithmic curves is determined by the similarity between target and distractor items (Buetti et al., 2016). A theoretical account of these findings was proposed, namely that a parallel, unlimited capacity, exhaustive processing architecture is underlying such data. Here, we conducted two experiments to expand these findings to a set of real-world stimuli, in both homogeneous and heterogeneous search displays. We used computational simulations of this architecture to identify a way to predict RT performance in heterogeneous search using parameters estimated from homogeneous search data. Further, by examining the systematic deviation from our predictions in the observed data, we found evidence that early visual processing for individual items is not independent. Instead, items in homogeneous displays seemed to facilitate each other’s processing by a multiplicative factor. These results challenge previous accounts of heterogeneity effects in visual search, and demonstrate the explanatory and predictive power of an approach that combines computational simulations and behavioral data to better understand performance in visual search.

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.

scholarly journals Periodic attention operates faster during more complex visual search

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garance Merholz ◽  
Laetitia Grabot ◽  
Rufin VanRullen ◽  
Laura Dugué
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Set Size ◽  
Low Frequency Oscillations ◽  
Wide Range

AbstractAttention has been found to sample visual information periodically, in a wide range of frequencies below 20 Hz. This periodicity may be supported by brain oscillations at corresponding frequencies. We propose that part of the discrepancy in periodic frequencies observed in the literature is due to differences in attentional demands, resulting from heterogeneity in tasks performed. To test this hypothesis, we used visual search and manipulated task complexity, i.e., target discriminability (high, medium, low) and number of distractors (set size), while electro-encephalography was simultaneously recorded. We replicated previous results showing that the phase of pre-stimulus low-frequency oscillations predicts search performance. Crucially, such effects were observed at increasing frequencies within the theta-alpha range (6-18 Hz) for decreasing target discriminability. In medium and low discriminability conditions, correct responses were further associated with higher post-stimulus phase-locking than incorrect ones, in increasing frequency and latency. Finally, the larger the set size, the later the post-stimulus effect peaked. Together, these results suggest that increased complexity (lower discriminability or larger set size) requires more attentional cycles to perform the task, partially explaining discrepancies between reports of attentional sampling. Low-frequency oscillations structure the temporal dynamics of neural activity and aid top-down, attentional control for efficient visual processing.

scholarly journals When more is more: redundant modifiers can facilitate visual search

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwendolyn Rehrig ◽  
Reese A. Cullimore ◽  
John M. Henderson ◽  
Fernanda Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Real World ◽  
Search Space ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Target Object ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Redundant Information ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Target Template ◽  
Template Specificity

Abstract According to the Gricean Maxim of Quantity, speakers provide the amount of information listeners require to correctly interpret an utterance, and no more (Grice in Logic and conversation, 1975). However, speakers do tend to violate the Maxim of Quantity often, especially when the redundant information improves reference precision (Degen et al. in Psychol Rev 127(4):591–621, 2020). Redundant (non-contrastive) information may facilitate real-world search if it narrows the spatial scope under consideration, or improves target template specificity. The current study investigated whether non-contrastive modifiers that improve reference precision facilitate visual search in real-world scenes. In two visual search experiments, we compared search performance when perceptually relevant, but non-contrastive modifiers were included in the search instruction. Participants (NExp. 1 = 48, NExp. 2 = 48) searched for a unique target object following a search instruction that contained either no modifier, a location modifier (Experiment 1: on the top left, Experiment 2: on the shelf), or a color modifier (the black lamp). In Experiment 1 only, the target was located faster when the verbal instruction included either modifier, and there was an overall benefit of color modifiers in a combined analysis for scenes and conditions common to both experiments. The results suggest that violations of the Maxim of Quantity can facilitate search when the violations include task-relevant information that either augments the target template or constrains the search space, and when at least one modifier provides a highly reliable cue. Consistent with Degen et al. (2020), we conclude that listeners benefit from non-contrastive information that improves reference precision, and engage in rational reference comprehension. Significance statement This study investigated whether providing more information than someone needs to find an object in a photograph helps them to find that object more easily, even though it means they need to interpret a more complicated sentence. Before searching a scene, participants were either given information about where the object would be located in the scene, what color the object was, or were only told what object to search for. The results showed that providing additional information helped participants locate an object in an image more easily only when at least one piece of information communicated what part of the scene the object was in, which suggests that more information can be beneficial as long as that information is specific and helps the recipient achieve a goal. We conclude that people will pay attention to redundant information when it supports their task. In practice, our results suggest that instructions in other contexts (e.g., real-world navigation, using a smartphone app, prescription instructions, etc.) can benefit from the inclusion of what appears to be redundant information.

Analyzing vision at the complexity level

1990 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
John K. Tsotsos
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Minimum Cost ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Complexity Level ◽  
Psychological Evidence ◽  
Architectural Constraints ◽  
Attentional Mechanism

AbstractThe general problem of visual search can be shown to be computationally intractable in a formal, complexity-theoretic sense, yet visual search is extensively involved in everyday perception, and biological systems manage to perform it remarkably well. Complexity level analysis may resolve this contradiction. Visual search can be reshaped into tractability through approximations and by optimizing the resources devoted to visual processing. Architectural constraints can be derived using the minimum cost principle to rule out a large class of potential solutions. The evidence speaks strongly against bottom-up approaches to vision. In particular, the constraints suggest an attentional mechanism that exploits knowledge of the specific problem being solved. This analysis of visual search performance in terms of attentional influences on visual information processing and complexity satisfaction allows a large body of neurophysiological and psychological evidence to be tied together.

scholarly journals Mind-Wandering: What Can We Learn from Eye Movements?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Scene Perception ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Irrelevant Distractors

Mind-wandering (MW) is ubiquitous and is associated with reduced performance across a wide range of tasks. Recent studies have shown that MW can be related to changes in gaze parameters. In this dissertation, I explored the link between eye movements and MW in three different contexts that involve complex cognitive processing: visual search, scene perception, and reading comprehension. Study 1 examined how MW affects visual search performance, particularly the ability to suppress salient but irrelevant distractors during visual search. Study 2 used a scene encoding task to study how MW affects how eye movements change over time and their relationship with scene content. Study 3 examined how MW affects readers’ ability to detect semantic incongruities in the text and make necessary revisions of their understanding as they read jokes. All three studies showed that MW was associated with decreased task performance at the behavioral level (e.g., response time, recognition, and recall). Eye-tracking further showed that these behavioral costs can be traced to deficits in specific cognitive processes. The final chapter of this dissertation explored whether there are context-independent eye movement features of MW. MW manifests itself in different ways depending on task characteristics. In tasks that require extensive sampling of the stimuli (e.g., reading and scene viewing), MW was related to a global reduction in visual processing. But this was not the case for the search task, which involved speeded, simple visual processing. MW was instead related to increased looking time on the target after it was already located. MW affects the coupling between cognitive efforts and task demands, but the nature of this decoupling depends on the specific features of particular tasks.

scholarly journals Depth and Size Information Reduce Effective Set Size for Visual Search in Real-World Scenes

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1334-1334 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Sherman ◽  
M. R. Greene ◽  
J. M. Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Real World ◽  
Size Information ◽  
Set Size

scholarly journals Predicting Search Performance in Heterogeneous Scenes: Quantifying the Impact of Homogeneity Effects in Efficient Search

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Lleras ◽  
Zhiyuan Wang ◽  
Anna Madison ◽  
Simona Buetti
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Computational Model ◽  
Real World ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Facilitatory Effect ◽  
Stimulus Complexity ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Efficient Search ◽  
The Impact

Recently, Wang, Buetti and Lleras (2017) developed an equation to predict search performance in heterogeneous visual search scenes (i.e., multiple types of non-target objects simultaneously present) based on parameters observed when participants perform search in homogeneous scenes (i.e., when all non-target objects are identical to one another). The equation was based on a computational model where every item in the display is processed with unlimited capacity and independently of one another, with the goal of determining whether the item is likely to be a target or not. The model was tested in two experiments using real-world objects. Here, we extend those findings by testing the predictive power of the equation to simpler objects. Further, we compare the model’s performance under two stimulus arrangements: spatially-intermixed (items randomly placed around the scene) and spatially-segregated displays (identical items presented near each other). This comparison allowed us to isolate and quantify the facilitatory effect of processing displays that contain identical items (homogeneity facilitation), a factor that improves performance in visual search above-and-beyond target-distractor dissimilarity. The results suggest that homogeneity facilitation effects in search arise from local item-to-item interaction (rather than by rejecting items as “groups”) and that the strength of those interactions might be determined by stimulus complexity (with simpler stimuli producing stronger interactions and thus, stronger homogeneity facilitation effects).

Distractor Heterogeneity versus Linear Separability in Colour Visual Search

Perception ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 1281-1293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Bauer ◽  
Pierre Jolicoeur ◽  
William B Cowan
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Display ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Set Size ◽  
Linear Separability

D'Zmura, and Bauer, Jolicoeur, and Cowan demonstrated that a target whose chromaticity was linearly separable from distractor chromaticities was relatively easy to detect in a search display, whereas a target that was not linearly separable from the distractor chromaticities resulted in steep search slopes. This linear separability effect suggests that efficient colour visual search is mediated by a chromatically linear mechanism. Failure of this mechanism leads to search performance strongly influenced by number of search items (set size). In their studies, linear separability was confounded with distractor heterogeneity and thus the results attributed to linear separability were also consistent with the model of visual search proposed by Duncan and Humphreys in which search performance is determined in part by distractor heterogeneity. We contrasted the predictions based on linear separability and on the Duncan and Humphreys model by varying the ratios of the quantities of the two distractors and demonstrated the potent effects of linear separability in a design that deconfounded linear separability and distractor heterogeneity.

scholarly journals Animacy and object size are reflected in perceptual similarity computations by the preschool years

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bria Long ◽  
Mariko Moher ◽  
Susan Carey ◽  
Talia Konkle
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Real World ◽  
Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Object Size ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Perceptual Similarity ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Neural Organization ◽  
Perceptual Representations

By adulthood, animacy and object size jointly structure neural responses in visual cortex and influence perceptual similarity computations. Here, we take a first step in asking about the development of these aspects of cognitive architecture by probing whether animacy and object size are reflected in perceptual similarity computations by the preschool years. We used visual search performance as an index of perceptual similarity, as research with adults suggests search is slower when distractors are perceptually similar to the target. Preschoolers found target pictures more quickly when targets differed from distractor pictures in either animacy (Experiment 1) or in real-world size (Experiment 2; the pictures themselves were all the same size), versus when they do not. Taken together, these results suggest that the visual system has abstracted perceptual features for animates vs. inanimates and big vs. small objects as classes by the preschool years and call for further research exploring the development of these perceptual representations and their consequences for neural organization in childhood.

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.

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