scholarly journals Looking ahead: When do you find the next item in foraging visual search?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Kosovicheva ◽  
Abla Alaoui-Soce ◽  
Jeremy Wolfe

Many real-world visual tasks involve searching for multiple instances of a target (e.g., picking ripe berries). What strategies do observers use when collecting items in this type of search? Do they wait to finish collecting the current item before starting to look for the next target, or do they search ahead for future targets? We utilized behavioral and eye tracking measures to distinguish between these two possibilities in foraging search. Experiment 1 used a color wheel technique in which observers searched for T shapes among L shapes while all items independently cycled through a set of colors. Trials were abruptly terminated, and observers reported both the color and location of the next target that they intended to click. Using observers’ color reports to infer target-finding times, we demonstrate that observers found the next item before the time of the click on the current target. We validated these results in Experiment 2 by recording fixation locations around the time of each click. Experiment 3 utilized a different procedure, in which all items were intermittently occluded during the trial. We then calculated a distribution of when targets were visible around the time of each click, allowing us to infer when they were most likely found. In a fourth and final experiment, observers indicated the locations of multiple future targets after the search was abruptly terminated. Together, our results provide converging evidence to demonstrate that observers can find the next target before collecting the current target and can typically forage 1-2 items ahead.

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-341
Author(s):  
Melissa Hunfalvay ◽  
Nicholas Murray

The purpose of this study was to examine whether prior biped tennis playing experience results in different visual search strategies compared with no prior biped playing experience. A total of 32 wheelchair (WC) tennis players, 17 males and 15 females, ranked between 1 and 16 on the International Tennis Federation rankings participated in this study. Half the players had prior experience playing tennis as a biped player, and half had no prior experience in biped tennis. The athletes viewed 18 different serves from an expert WC player while their gaze was monitored using eye tracking. Results revealed significant differences between the groups in fixation duration and number of fixations. Differences were also found in fixation locations and durations across biomechanical phases of the serve. The WC only players had more fixations for shorter periods than did WC with biped players in the ritual phase. In the preparatory and execution phases, however, the WC only players had fewer fixations for longer duration than the WC with biped players. Results are discussed in terms of long-term memory structures, learning, and considerations when coaching and training WC tennis players.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 650
Author(s):  
Grace Nicora ◽  
David Alonso ◽  
Kristina Rand ◽  
Sarah Creem-Regehr ◽  
Trafton Drew

Author(s):  
Tobit Kollenberg ◽  
Alexander Neumann ◽  
Dorothe Schneider ◽  
Tessa-Karina Tews ◽  
Thomas Hermann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Gwendolyn Rehrig ◽  
Reese A. Cullimore ◽  
John M. Henderson ◽  
Fernanda Ferreira

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.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Kaminska ◽  
T. Foulsham
Keyword(s):  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Lonnqvist ◽  
Micha Elsner ◽  
Amelia R. Hunt ◽  
Alasdair D F Clarke

Experiments on the efficiency of human search sometimes reveal large differences between individual participants. We argue that reward-driven task-specific learning may account for some of this variation. In a computational reinforcement learning model of this process, a wide variety of strategies emerge, despite all simulated participants having the same visual acuity. We conduct a visual search experiment, and replicate previous findings that participant preferences about where to search are highly varied, with a distribution comparable to the simulated results. Thus, task-specific learning is an under-explored mechanism by which large inter-participant differences can arise.


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