Influence of Selection Difficulty on the Time Required for Icon Formation

Perception ◽  
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.

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

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Bouhassoun ◽  
Nicolas Poirel ◽  
Noah Hamlin ◽  
Gaelle E. Doucet
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Local Processing ◽  
Global Precedence ◽  
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.

Arousal and Cognition: Word Arousal and Visual Search

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.

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.

scholarly journals Eye-Hand Coordination During Target Selection in a Pop-Out Visual Search

2009 ◽  
Vol 102 (5) ◽  
pp. 2681-2692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joo-Hyun Song ◽  
Robert M. McPeek
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Tight Coupling ◽  
Reaching Movement ◽  
Temporal Coupling ◽  
Hand Coordination ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Highly Correlated

We examined the coordination of saccades and reaches in a visual search task in which monkeys were rewarded for reaching to an odd-colored target among distractors. Eye movements were unconstrained, and monkeys typically made one or more saccades before initiating a reach. Target selection for reaching and saccades was highly correlated with the hand and eyes landing near the same final stimulus both for correct reaches to the target and for incorrect reaches to a distractor. Incorrect reaches showed a bias in target selection: they were directed to the distractor in the same hemifield as the target more often than to other distractors. A similar bias was seen in target selection for the initial saccade in correct reaching trials with multiple saccades. We also examined the temporal coupling of saccades and reaches. In trials with a single saccade, a reaching movement was made after a fairly stereotyped delay. In multiple-saccade trials, a reach to the target could be initiated near or even before the onset of the final target-directed saccade. In these trials, the initial trajectory of the reach was often directed toward the fixated distractor before veering toward the target around the time of the final saccade. In virtually all cases, the eyes arrived at the target before the hand, and remained fixated until reach completion. Overall, these results are consistent with flexible temporal coupling of saccade and reach initiation, but fairly tight coupling of target selection for the two types of action.

Colour Mechanisms Underlying Visual Search with Heterochromatic Distractors

Perception ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 50-50
Author(s):  
H Yamamoto ◽  
Y Ejima
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Test Stimulus ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Chance Level ◽  
Central Angle ◽  
Colour Space ◽  
Target Direction

We studied the colour mechanisms involved in a visual search task. The test stimulus consisted of a coloured target randomly positioned among heterogeneous distractors of two colours. Colours of the target and distractors were specified in the equiluminous plane; a pair of distractors was set to lie on a circle around the target and characterised by the radius, central angle, and chromatic direction of a right bisector of the chord between the pair. The stimulus was presented briefly, and observers were asked to report whether a target was present. Target detectability quantified by d' depended on the central angle and the chromatic direction of the bisector. The central angle affected the detectability of the coloured target but not that of the white one. The coloured-target detectability decreased and reached chance level with increasing central angle from 0° to 180°. For a fixed obtuse central angle, maxima of the coloured-target detectability occurred at two bisector directions, one orthogonal to the target direction and the other along the target direction. This suggests that only two orthogonal colour mechanisms were at play and they changed with the colour of the target. These results and previous findings that the target was detected preattentively when it was linearly separable from the distractors in colour space (D'Zmura, 1991 Vision Research31 951 – 966; Bauer et al, 1996 Vision Research36 1439 – 1465) may be explained by the same processes, colour selective filters that linearly combine cone signals followed by peak detectors.

Neural Evidence Suggests Both Interference and Facilitation from Embedding Regularity into Visual Search

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Anna Vaskevich ◽  
Alon Nishry ◽  
Yotam Smilansky ◽  
Roy Luria
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Target Selection ◽  
Selection Response ◽  
Local Effect ◽  
Contextual Cueing ◽  
Mixed Group ◽  
Mapping Condition

In this work, we relied on electrophysiological methods to characterize the processing stages that are affected by the presence of regularity in a visual search task. EEG was recorded for 72 participants while they completed a visual search task. Depending on the group, the task contained a consistent-mapping condition, a random-mapping condition, or both consistent and random conditions intermixed (mixed group). Contrary to previous findings, the control groups allowed us to demonstrate that the contextual cueing effect that was observed in the mixed group resulted from interference, not facilitation, to the target selection, response selection, and response execution processes (N2-posterior-contralateral, stimulus-locked lateralized readiness potential [LRP], and response-locked LRP components). When the regularity was highly valid (consistent-only group), the presence of regularity drove performance beyond general practice effects, through facilitation in target selection and response selection (N2-posterior-contralateral and stimulus-locked LRP components). Overall, we identified two distinct effects created by the presence of regularity: a global effect of validity that dictates the degree to which all information is taken into account and a local effect of activating the information on every trial. We conclude that, when considering the influence of regularity on behavior, it is vital to assess how the overall reliability of the incoming information is affected.

Intelligence and information processing during a visual search task in children: an event-related potential study

Neuroreport ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 747-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiong Zhang ◽  
Jiannong Shi ◽  
Yuejia Luo ◽  
Daheng Zhao ◽  
Jie Yang
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Potential Study

scholarly journals Evolutionary Relevance Facilitates Visual Information Processing

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 147470491301100 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Working memory implements distinct maintenance mechanisms depending on task goals

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes J. Fahrenfort ◽  
Jonathan Van Leeuwen ◽  
Joshua J. Foster ◽  
Edward Awh ◽  
Christian N.L. Olivers
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Search ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
Recall Task ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
The Other ◽  
Informational Content ◽  
Current Task ◽  
Task Goals

AbstractWorking memory is the function by which we temporarily maintain information to achieve current task goals. Models of working memory typically debate where this information is stored, rather than how it is stored. Here we ask instead what neural mechanisms are involved in storage, and how these mechanisms change as a function of task goals. Participants either had to reproduce the orientation of a memorized bar (continuous recall task), or identify the memorized bar in a search array (visual search task). The sensory input and retention interval were identical in both tasks. Next, we used decoding and forward modeling on multivariate electroencephalogram (EEG) and time-frequency decomposed EEG to investigate which neural signals carry more informational content during the retention interval. In the continuous recall task, working memory content was preferentially carried by induced oscillatory alpha-band power, while in the visual search task it was more strongly carried by the distribution of evoked (consistently elevated and non-oscillatory) EEG activity. To show the independence of these two signals, we were able to remove informational content from one signal without affecting informational content in the other. Finally, we show that the tuning characteristics of both signals change in opposite directions depending on the current task goal. We propose that these signals reflect oscillatory and elevated firing-rate mechanisms that respectively support location-based and object-based maintenance. Together, these data challenge current models of working memory that place storage in particular regions, but rather emphasize the importance of different distributed maintenance signals depending on task goals.Significance statement (120 words)Without realizing, we are constantly moving things in and out of our mind’s eye, an ability also referred to as ‘working memory’. Where did I put my screwdriver? Do we still have milk in the fridge? A central question in working memory research is how the brain maintains this information temporarily. Here we show that different neural mechanisms are involved in working memory depending on what the memory is used for. For example, remembering what a bottle of milk looks like invokes a different neural mechanism from remembering how much milk it contains: the first one primarily involved in being able to find the object, and the other one involving spatial position, such as the milk level in the bottle.

Disruption and Maintenance of Skilled Visual Search as a Function of Degree of Consistency

1993 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark D. Lee ◽  
Arthur D. Fisk
Keyword(s):  
Visual Search ◽  
Present Experiment ◽  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Search Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Consistent Mapping ◽  
Practical Implications

The present experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of varying degrees of task consistency on the performance and maintenance of skill in a semanticcategory visual search task. Four groups of participants first received 6000 trials of consistent mapping (CM) training on two different categories. The participants then performed 4000 trials in which one of the previously trained categories remained 100% consistent, whereas the other previously trained category became either 100%, 67%, 50%, or 33% consistent. This second phase of the experiment allowed for the examination of disruption of the search skill as a function of degree of consistency. Subsequent to the degree of consistency manipulation, 100% consistency was restored and participants performed another 4200 CM trials. Results indicate that performance was disrupted by inconsistency and that disruption increased as consistency decreased. On the return of task consistency, performance improved rapidly to predisruption levels, though some performance disruption was evident. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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