The forest, the trees, and the leaves across adulthood: Age-related changes on a visual search task containing three-level 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.

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Evolutionary Relevance Facilitates Visual Information Processing

Evolutionary Psychology ◽

10.1177/147470491301100506 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 147470491301100 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Russell E. Jackson ◽

Dustin P. Calvillo

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Visual Search ◽

Human Behavior ◽

Visual Information ◽

Search Task ◽

Perceptual Load ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Visual Information Processing ◽

Significant Component ◽

Evolutionary Consequences

Visual search of the environment is a fundamental human behavior that perceptual load affects powerfully. Previously investigated means for overcoming the inhibitions of high perceptual load, however, generalize poorly to real-world human behavior. We hypothesized that humans would process evolutionarily relevant stimuli more efficiently than evolutionarily novel stimuli, and evolutionary relevance would mitigate the repercussions of high perceptual load during visual search. Animacy is a significant component to evolutionary relevance of visual stimuli because perceiving animate entities is time-sensitive in ways that pose significant evolutionary consequences. Participants completing a visual search task located evolutionarily relevant and animate objects fastest and with the least impact of high perceptual load. Evolutionarily novel and inanimate objects were located slowest and with the highest impact of perceptual load. Evolutionary relevance may importantly affect everyday visual information processing.

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The Effect of Information Organization on Cognitive Workload and Visual Search Performance

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/1071181319631085 ◽

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.

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Arousal and Cognition: Word Arousal and Visual Search

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1976.43.3.699 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 43 (3) ◽

pp. 699-702

Author(s):

Frank H. Farley ◽

Shu-Jen Yen

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Visual Search ◽

Problem Solving ◽

Target Word ◽

High Speed ◽

Processing Time ◽

Search Task ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Random Letter ◽

List Learning

The influence of target-word affective properties on information processing time in a high speed visual-search task was studied. The 24 words were embedded in random-letter matrices, with one word per matrix. Subjects (5 male, 5 female) were tested. Words extreme on emotionality (positive vs negative affect) yielded significantly longer latencies than neutral words. The results were discussed in the light of related list-learning and problem-solving research.

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Influence of Selection Difficulty on the Time Required for Icon Formation

Perception ◽

10.1068/p050225 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 225-231

Author(s):

Robert T Solman

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Visual Search ◽

Search Task ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Probability Distributions ◽

Target Selection ◽

The Other ◽

Cumulative Probability ◽

Physical Similarity ◽

Time Required

By increasing the number of display items and the physical similarity between the target and the irrelevant items it was possible to vary the difficulty of target selection in a visual-search task. The results showed that the accuracy with which the target was located declined as target selection became more difficult. On the other hand, estimates of the cumulative probability and the probability distributions of times necessary to form the icon indicated that these times were not influenced by changes in the difficulty of the task. The latter result supports Neisser's suggestion that the information processing carried out during the first stage of analysis can be attributed to the action of a distinct cognitive mechanism.

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Examining the Effects of Clutter and Target Salience in an E-Commerce Visual Search Task

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/1071181319631213 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 63 (1) ◽

pp. 1761-1765

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Visual Field ◽

Visual Information ◽

Search Task ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Visual Salience ◽

Web Page ◽

Attentional Guidance ◽

Two Factors ◽

Trial Participants

For web page designers it is important to consider how the visual components of a page affect how easy it is to use. Visual salience and clutter are two bottom-up factors of stimuli that have been shown to affect attentional guidance. Visual salience is a measure of how much a given item or region in the visual field stands out relative to its surroundings, and clutter is a measure of how much visual information is present and how well it is organized. In this study, we examined the effects of visual salience and clutter in a visual search task in e-commerce pages. Clutter was manipulated by adding grids of varying densities to the background of stimuli. On each trial, participants searched for an item that was either the most or least salient of the items on the page as determined by a computational model of visual salience (Itti, Koch, & Niebur, 1998). The results showed that the high salient targets were found faster than the low salient targets and search times also increased as clutter increased, but these two factors did not interact. We conclude that designers should consider both factors when possible.

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Visual Information and Support Surface for Postural Control in Visual Search Task

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.1177/0031512516651437 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 123 (2) ◽

pp. 394-410 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Chia-Chun Huang ◽

Chih-Mei Yang

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Postural Control ◽

Visual Information ◽

Search Task ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Support Surface

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The efficiency of visual search for a frequently changed target is preserved in older adults

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/1747021820986353 ◽

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.

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Identification of Target Objects from Gaze Behavior during a Virtual Navigation Task

10.1101/2021.03.30.437718 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Leah R. Enders ◽

Robert J. Smith ◽

Stephen M. Gordon ◽

Anthony J. Ries ◽

Jonathan Touryan

Keyword(s):

Visual Search ◽

Eye Tracking ◽

Virtual Environment ◽

Visual Information ◽

Search Task ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Natural World ◽

Movement Behavior ◽

Gaze Behavior ◽

Attention Task

Eye tracking has been an essential tool within the vision science community for many years. However, the majority of studies involving eye-tracking technology employ a relatively passive approach through the use of static imagery, prescribed motion, or video stimuli. This is in contrast to our everyday interaction with the natural world where we navigate our environment while actively seeking and using task-relevant visual information. For this reason, vision researchers are beginning to use virtual environment platforms, which offer interactive, realistic visual environments while maintaining a substantial level of experimental control. Here, we recorded eye movement behavior while participants freely navigated through a complex virtual environment. Within this environment, participants completed a visual search task where they were asked to find and count occurrence of specific targets among numerous distractor items. We assigned each participant into one of four target groups: Humvees, motorcycles, aircraft, or furniture. Our results show a significant relationship between gaze behavior and target objects across subject groups. Specifically, we see an increased number of fixations and increase dwell time on target relative to distractor objects. In addition, we included a divided attention task to investigate how search patterns changed with the addition of a secondary task. With increased cognitive load, subjects slowed their speed, decreased gaze on objects, and increased the number of objects scanned in the environment. Overall, our results confirm previous findings from more controlled laboratory settings and demonstrate that complex virtual environments can be used for active visual search experimentation, maintaining a high level of precision in the quantification of gaze information and visual attention. This study contributes to our understanding of how individuals search for information in a naturalistic virtual environment. Likewise, our paradigm provides an intriguing look into the heterogeneity of individual behaviors when completing an un-timed visual search task while actively navigating.

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How the forest interacts with the trees: Multiscale shape integration explains global and local processing

10.1101/777110 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Georgin Jacob ◽

S. P. Arun

Keyword(s):

Linear Models ◽

Search Task ◽

Visual Search Task ◽

Feature Representation ◽

Local Processing ◽

Intrinsic Properties ◽

Hierarchical Stimuli ◽

Global And Local ◽

Global Advantage ◽

Global And Local Processing

ABSTRACTHierarchical stimuli (such as a circle made of diamonds) have been widely used to study global and local processing. Two classic phenomena have been observed using these stimuli: the global advantage effect (that we identify the circle faster than the diamonds) and the incongruence effect (that we identify the circle faster when both global and local shapes are circles). Understanding them has been difficult because they occur during shape detection, where an unknown categorical judgement is made on an unknown feature representation.Here we report two essential findings. First, these phenomena are present both in a general same-different task and a visual search task, suggesting that they may be intrinsic properties of the underlying representation. Second, in both tasks, responses were explained using linear models that combined multiscale shape differences and shape distinctiveness. Thus, global and local processing can be understood as properties of a systematic underlying feature representation.

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