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

2020 ◽  
pp. 174702182092919 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alasdair DF Clarke ◽  
Jessica L Irons ◽  
Warren James ◽  
Andrew B Leber ◽  
Amelia R Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Retest Reliability ◽  
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 whether an individual’s strategy and performance in one search task is correlated with how they perform in the other two. We tested 64 observers and found that even though the test–retest reliability of the tasks was high, an observer’s performance and strategy in one task was not predictive of 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.

Visual Search Using Microfiche: Effects of Microfiche Reader Screen Scintillation on Visual Fatigue, General Fatigue, and Performance

1978 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 299-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H. Cushman
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Visual Fatigue ◽  
General Fatigue ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
And Performance

Nine subjects performed a visual search task for two 100-minute sessions using microfiche with positive appearing images and small, portable microfiche readers. During one session the subjects performed the task with a reader having a screen with highly visible scintillation. During the other they used a reader equipped with a screen that was nearly free from scintillation. Dependent variables were subjective visual fatigue, general fatigue, and number of targets located. Subjects reported significantly greater visual fatigue after viewing the “high” scintillation screen for 50–100 minutes than after viewing the “low” scintillation screen for the same length of time. When the high-scintillation screen was used, the subjects also reported an increase in general fatigue. Screen scintillation did not affect the subjects' performance on the search task, however.

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.

scholarly journals Saliency-Aware Subtle Augmentation Improves Human Visual Search Performance in VR

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 283
Author(s):  
Olga Lukashova-Sanz ◽  
Siegfried Wahl
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Mixed Models ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Search Time ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Salient Regions ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Omnidirectional Images ◽  
Insight Into

Visual search becomes challenging when the time to find the target is limited. Here we focus on how performance in visual search can be improved via a subtle saliency-aware modulation of the scene. Specifically, we investigate whether blurring salient regions of the scene can improve participant’s ability to find the target faster when the target is located in non-salient areas. A set of real-world omnidirectional images were displayed in virtual reality with a search target overlaid on the visual scene at a pseudorandom location. Participants performed a visual search task in three conditions defined by blur strength, where the task was to find the target as fast as possible. The mean search time, and the proportion of trials where participants failed to find the target, were compared across different conditions. Furthermore, the number and duration of fixations were evaluated. A significant effect of blur on behavioral and fixation metrics was found using linear mixed models. This study shows that it is possible to improve the performance by a saliency-aware subtle scene modulation in a challenging realistic visual search scenario. The current work provides an insight into potential visual augmentation designs aiming to improve user’s performance in everyday visual search tasks.

scholarly journals Individual Differences in Working Memory and the N2pc

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane W. Couperus ◽  
Kirsten O. Lydic ◽  
Juniper E. Hollis ◽  
Jessica L. Roy ◽  
Amy R. Lowe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Additional Support

The lateralized ERP N2pc component has been shown to be an effective marker of attentional object selection when elicited in a visual search task, specifically reflecting the selection of a target item among distractors. Moreover, when targets are known in advance, the visual search process is guided by representations of target features held in working memory at the time of search, thus guiding attention to objects with target-matching features. Previous studies have shown that manipulating working memory availability via concurrent tasks or within task manipulations influences visual search performance and the N2pc. Other studies have indicated that visual (non-spatial) vs. spatial working memory manipulations have differential contributions to visual search. To investigate this the current study assesses participants' visual and spatial working memory ability independent of the visual search task to determine whether such individual differences in working memory affect task performance and the N2pc. Participants (n = 205) completed a visual search task to elicit the N2pc and separate visual working memory (VWM) and spatial working memory (SPWM) assessments. Greater SPWM, but not VWM, ability is correlated with and predicts higher visual search accuracy and greater N2pc amplitudes. Neither VWM nor SPWM was related to N2pc latency. These results provide additional support to prior behavioral and neural visual search findings that spatial WM availability, whether as an ability of the participant's processing system or based on task demands, plays an important role in efficient 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.

scholarly journals Granulated Rest Frames Outperform Field of View Restrictors on Visual Search Performance

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zekun Cao ◽  
Jeronimo Grandi ◽  
Regis Kopper
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Induced Motion ◽  
Circular Cutout ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Peripheral Awareness

Dynamic field of view (FOV) restrictors have been successfully used to reduce visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) during continuous viewpoint motion control (virtual travel) in virtual reality (VR). This benefit, however, comes at the cost of losing peripheral awareness during provocative motion. Likewise, the use of visual references that are stable in relation to the physical environment, called rest frames (RFs), has also been shown to reduce discomfort during virtual travel tasks in VR. We propose a new RF-based design called Granulated Rest Frames (GRFs) with a soft-edged circular cutout in the center that leverages the rest frames’ benefits without completely blocking the user’s peripheral view. The GRF design is application-agnostic and does not rely on context-specific RFs, such as commonly used cockpits. We report on a within-subjects experiment with 20 participants. The results suggest that, by strategically applying GRFs during a visual search session in VR, we can achieve better item searching efficiency as compared to restricted FOV. The effect of GRFs on reducing VIMS remains to be determined by future work.

Auditory Spatial Cueing in Visual Search Tasks: Effects of Amplitude, Contrast and Duration

1995 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Z. Strybel ◽  
Jan M. Boucher ◽  
Greg E. Fujawa ◽  
Craig S. Volp
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Peripheral Visual Field ◽  
Search Performance ◽  
Spatial Cues ◽  
Spatial Cueing ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Auditory Spatial Cues

The effectiveness of auditory spatial cues in visual search performance was examined in three experiments. Auditory spatial cues are more effective than abrupt visual onsets when the target appears in the peripheral visual field or when the contrast of the target is degraded. The duration of the auditory spatial cue did not affect search performance.

The effects of audiovisual task-set in visual search

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (0) ◽  
pp. 158
Author(s):  
Pawel J. Matusz ◽  
Martin Eimer
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Search Tasks ◽  
Attentional Control Settings ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Attentional Selectivity ◽  
Auditory Features ◽  
Target Matching

We investigated whether top-down attentional control settings can specify task-relevant features in different sensory modalities (vision and audition). Two audiovisual search tasks were used where a spatially uninformative visual singleton cue preceded a target search array. In different blocks, participants searched for a visual target (defined by colour or shape in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively), or target defined by a combination of visual and auditory features (e.g., red target accompanied by a high-pitch tone). Spatial cueing effects indicative of attentional capture by target-matching visual singleton cues in the unimodal visual search task were reduced or completely eliminated when targets were audiovisually defined. The N2pc component (i.e. index attentional target selection in vision) triggered by these cues was reduced and delayed during search for audiovisual as compared to unimodal visual targets. These results provide novel evidence that the top-down control settings which guide attentional selectivity can include perceptual features from different sensory modalities.

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