scholarly journals Passive exposure attenuates distraction during visual search

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Yeong Won ◽  
Joy Geng
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Strategic Control ◽  
Target Search ◽  
Passive Exposure

Distractions are ubiquitous in our sensory environments. How do we keep them from capturing attention? Existing research has focused primarily on mechanisms of strategic control or statistical learning, both of which require knowledge (explicit or implicit) of what features belong to distractors before suppression occurs. Here, we test the hypothesis that task-free exposure to stimuli is sufficient to attenuate their effect as distractors later on. In three experiments, subjects were exposed to either colored or achromatic circles on “circle displays” interleaved with “target search displays”. Later, new distractors were introduced into the search displays using colors from the circle displays. We consistently found that passively viewed colors produced less interference when introduced as new visual search distractors. We conclude that learning during passive exposure was due to habituation mechanisms that attenuate sensory responsivity to recurring stimuli, allowing attention to operate more efficiently to select task-relevant targets or novel stimuli.

scholarly journals Passive exposure attenuates distraction during visual search.

2020 ◽  
Vol 149 (10) ◽  
pp. 1987-1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo-Yeong Won ◽  
Joy J. Geng
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Passive Exposure

scholarly journals Match me if you can: Evidence for a domain-general visual comparison ability

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethany Growns ◽  
James D. Dunn ◽  
Erwin J. A. T. Mattijssen ◽  
Adele Quigley-McBride ◽  
Alice Towler
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Real World ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Substantial Portion ◽  
Visual Comparison ◽  
Perceptual Ability ◽  
Forensic Scientists

AbstractVisual comparison—comparing visual stimuli (e.g., fingerprints) side by side and determining whether they originate from the same or different source (i.e., “match”)—is a complex discrimination task involving many cognitive and perceptual processes. Despite the real-world consequences of this task, which is often conducted by forensic scientists, little is understood about the psychological processes underpinning this ability. There are substantial individual differences in visual comparison accuracy amongst both professionals and novices. The source of this variation is unknown, but may reflect a domain-general and naturally varying perceptual ability. Here, we investigate this by comparing individual differences (N = 248 across two studies) in four visual comparison domains: faces, fingerprints, firearms, and artificial prints. Accuracy on all comparison tasks was significantly correlated and accounted for a substantial portion of variance (e.g., 42% in Exp. 1) in performance across all tasks. Importantly, this relationship cannot be attributed to participants’ intrinsic motivation or skill in other visual-perceptual tasks (visual search and visual statistical learning). This paper provides novel evidence of a reliable, domain-general visual comparison ability.

scholarly journals Humans Rapidly Learn Grammatical Structure in a New Musical Scale

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 377-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Psyche Loui ◽  
David L. Wessel ◽  
Carla L. Hudson Kam
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Musical Scale ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Learning Mechanism ◽  
Passive Exposure ◽  
Different Ages ◽  
Finite State ◽  
General Statistical ◽  
Musical Preferences

KNOWLEDGE OF MUSICAL RULES AND STRUCTURES HAS been reliably demonstrated in humans of different ages, cultures, and levels of music training, and has been linked to our musical preferences. However, how humans acquire knowledge of and develop preferences for music remains unknown. The present study shows that humans rapidly develop knowledge and preferences when given limited exposure to a new musical system. Using a nontraditional, unfamiliar musical scale (Bohlen-Pierce scale), we created finite-state musical grammars from which we composed sets of melodies.After 25-30 min of passive exposure to the melodies, participants showed extensive learning as characterized by recognition, generalization, and sensitivity to the event frequencies in their given grammar, as well as increased preference for repeated melodies in the new musical system. Results provide evidence that a domain-general statistical learning mechanism may account for much of the human appreciation for music.

Sequential Expectancy in Visual Search

1977 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 601-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy H. Monk
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Time ◽  
Random Order ◽  
Previous Trial ◽  
Similar Magnitude ◽  
Target Search ◽  
Expectancy Effect ◽  
The Given

An experiment was designed to determine whether there was a sequential expectancy effect in visual search by which subjects carried over an expectation of the duration of the search from one trial to the next and produced a shorter search time on the nth trial if the (n-1)th trial had had a search time of similar magnitude. Search time was controlled by the surreptitious insertion of lags between the onset of the background (i.e., start of search) and the actual appearance of the target. Post-target search time (total search time minus lag) was then used as the dependent variable. Three lags (0, 7.5, and 15 s) were used in a random order. Two effects emerged. Post-target search time was found to be reduced if the previous trial had used the same lag as the given trial; and post-target search time was found to increase with lag. Both effects were explained by the construction of a sequential expectancy model.

scholarly journals Proactive distractor suppression elicited by statistical regularities in visual search

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changrun Huang ◽  
Ana Vilotijević ◽  
Jan Theeuwes ◽  
Mieke Donk
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
High Probability ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Distractor Interference ◽  
Probe Task ◽  
Priority Map ◽  
Statistical Regularities ◽  
Low Probability

AbstractIrrelevant salient objects may capture our attention and interfere with visual search. Recently, it was shown that distraction by a salient object is reduced when it is presented more frequently at one location than at other locations. The present study investigates whether this reduced distractor interference is the result of proactive spatial suppression, implemented prior to display onset, or reactive suppression, occurring after attention has been directed to that location. Participants were asked to search for a shape singleton in the presence of an irrelevant salient color singleton which was presented more often at one location (the high-probability location) than at all other locations (the low-probability locations). On some trials, instead of the search task, participants performed a probe task, in which they had to detect the offset of a probe dot. The results of the search task replicated previous findings showing reduced distractor interference in trials in which the salient distractor was presented at the high-probability location as compared with the low-probability locations. The probe task showed that reaction times were longer for probes presented at the high-probability location than at the low-probability locations. These results indicate that through statistical learning the location that is likely to contain a distractor is suppressed proactively (i.e., prior to display onset). It suggests that statistical learning modulates the first feed-forward sweep of information processing by deprioritizing locations that are likely to contain a distractor in the spatial priority map.

scholarly journals Reward learning and statistical learning independently influence attentional priority of salient distractors in visual search

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike E. Le Pelley ◽  
Rhonda Ung ◽  
Chisato Mine ◽  
Steven B. Most ◽  
Poppy Watson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Prior Experience ◽  
Reward Learning ◽  
Incentive Salience ◽  
Selection History ◽  
Signal Suppression ◽  
Priority Map

AbstractExisting research demonstrates different ways in which attentional prioritization of salient nontarget stimuli is shaped by prior experience: Reward learning renders signals of high-value outcomes more likely to capture attention than signals of low-value outcomes, whereas statistical learning can produce attentional suppression of the location in which salient distractor items are likely to appear. The current study combined manipulations of the value and location associated with salient distractors in visual search to investigate whether these different effects of selection history operate independently or interact to determine overall attentional prioritization of salient distractors. In Experiment 1, high-value and low-value distractors most frequently appeared in the same location; in Experiment 2, high-value and low-value distractors typically appeared in distinct locations. In both experiments, effects of distractor value and location were additive, suggesting that attention-promoting effects of value and attention-suppressing effects of statistical location-learning independently modulate overall attentional priority. Our findings are consistent with a view that sees attention as mediated by a common priority map that receives and integrates separate signals relating to physical salience and value, with signal suppression based on statistical learning determined by physical salience, but not incentive salience.

scholarly journals Reward learning and statistical learning independently influence attentional priority of salient distractors in visual search

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Le Pelley ◽  
Poppy Watson ◽  
Jan Theeuwes ◽  
Steven Most
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Prior Experience ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Reward Learning ◽  
Selection History ◽  
Priority Map

Existing research demonstrates different ways in which attentional prioritisation of visual stimuli is shaped by prior experience: reward learning renders signals of high-value outcomes more likely to capture attention than signals of low-value outcomes, whereas statistical learning can produce attentional suppression of the location in which salient distractor items are likely to appear. The current study combined manipulations of the value and location associated with distractors in visual search to investigate whether these different effects of selection history operate independently, or interact to determine overall attentional prioritisation of salient distractors. In Experiment 1, high- and low-value distractors most frequently appeared in the same location; in Experiment 2, high- and low-value distractors typically appeared in distinct locations. In both experiments, effects of distractor value and location were additive, suggesting that attention-promoting effects of value and attention-suppressing effects of physical salience independently modulate overall attentional priority. Our findings are consistent with a view that sees attention as mediated by a common priority map that receives and integrates separate signals relating to physical salience and value.

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