Search

Although visual search studies have primarily focused on search behavior, concealment behavior is also important in the real world. However, previous studies in this regard are limited in that their findings about search and concealment strategies are restricted to the spatial (two-dimensional) domain. Thus, this study evaluated strategies during three-dimensional and temporal (i.e., spatiotemporal) search and concealment to determine whether participants would indicate where they would hide or find a target in a temporal sequence of items. The items were stacked in an upward (Experiments 1–3) or downward (Experiment 4) direction and three factors were manipulated: scenario (hide vs. seek), partner type (friend vs. foe), and oddball (unique item in the sequence; present vs. absent). Participants in both the hide and seek scenarios frequently selected the oddball for friends but not foes, which suggests that they applied common strategies because the oddball automatically attracts attention and can be readily discovered by friends. Additionally, a principle unique to the spatiotemporal domain was revealed, i.e., when the oddball was absent, participants in both scenarios frequently selected the topmost item of the stacked layer for friends, regardless of temporal order, whereas they selected the first item in the sequence for foes, regardless of the stacked direction. These principles were not affected by visual masking or number of items in the sequence. Taken together, these results suggest that finding and hiding positions in the spatiotemporal domain rely on the presence of salient items and physical accessibility or temporal remoteness, according to partner type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of searching for targets, our visual system not only prioritizes target-relevant features, but can also suppress nontarget-related features. Although this template for rejection has been well demonstrated, whether the features (i.e. the objects) or locations are suppressed remains unresolved due to the experimental paradigms in previous studies: in particular, object-based templates for rejection were confounded with location-based inhibition in visual search paradigms. The present study examined an object-based template for rejection by introducing search arrays comprised of two overlapping shapes with search items distributed along the shape's contours. To discourage location-based inhibition, the two shapes were spatially intermingled (Experiment 1), rotated (Experiment 2), or jiggled (Experiment 3). Participants identified the colour of a target cross. The pre-cue indicated the shape in which the target would appear (positive cue condition), the shape in which only distractors would appear (negative cue condition), or the shape that was irrelevant to the current search array (neutral cue condition). In all three experiments, the reaction times for the negative cue condition were shorter than those for the neutral cue condition, which is a hallmark of the object-based template for rejection effect, even under conditions in which location-based inhibition was discouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human visual system can actively prioritize task-relevant features to search for a target. Recent studies have reported cases in which the system may suppress irrelevant features by using a template for rejection. However, in those studies, the templates used for rejection were limited to the color domain, and they have yielded mixed results. Our literature review identified three differences among studies that may be responsible for such mixed results: differences in the spatial segmentation of items (i.e., segregated or intermixed across the display), differences in how features are defined and reported (i.e., combined or separate), and differences in cue lead times (short or long). Participants searched for a target-line segment in a shape and identified its orientation from among non-target line-shaped compound shapes that were preceded by one of three cue displays. Positive cues indicated that the target segment would appear in a shape, and negative cues that it would not appear in a shape. Neutral cues indicated that a particular shape would not appear in the current search display. The results demonstrated that reaction times were faster under the negative-cue condition than the neutral-cue condition, reflecting the effect of a shape-based template for rejection (Experiment 1). Experiment 2 replicated the absence of the effect in the shape domain. Experiment 3 indicated that the template-for-rejection effect occurred only when the cue lead time was relatively long, suggesting that time is required (approximately 2,400 ms or longer) for the visual system to form rejection templates. Experiment 4 excluded the possibility that a confound in the target-defining/reporting feature was involved. These results indicated that apparent inconsistencies in research on the template-for-rejection effect can be explained in terms of the time required for templates to be configured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies suggest that the 'mere presence' of a mobile phone impairs social interactions and neuropsychological test performance. The present study examined whether the presence of a mobile phone causes spatial bias toward the device during a visual search task. Participants identified a target among spatially distributed non-targets. We manipulated three factors: device presence (mobile phone or notepad), target congruency (congruent or incongruent), and attentional load (set size 8 or 24). A mobile phone (or a notepad in the control condition) was placed on the left side of the computer screen. Participants also completed a questionnaire to measure Internet usage and attachment. Participants with high scores on the questionnaire rapidly identified the target at the congruent (same side as the phone) location, but the mere presence effect did not occur in this condition. In contrast, participants with low scores on the questionnaire demonstrated the mere presence effect, but no spatial bias was observed. These results suggest that the mere presence effect can be modulated by individual differences in the degree to which a device is appealing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The presence of a singleton in a task-irrelevant domain can impair visual search. This impairment, known as the attentional capture depends on the set of participants. When narrowly searching for a specific feature (the feature search mode), only matching stimuli capture attention. When searching broadly (the singleton detection mode), any oddball captures attention. The present study examined which strategy represents the “default” mode using an operant conditioning approach in which participants were trained, in the absence of explicit instructions, to search for a target in an ambiguous context in which one of two modes was available. The results revealed that participants behaviorally adopted the singleton detection as the default mode but reported using the feature search mode. Conscious strategies did not eliminate capture. These results challenge the view that a conscious set always modulates capture, suggesting that the visual system tends to rely on stimulus salience to deploy attention. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

At the earliest processing stages, visual stimuli are decomposed by a set of filters tuned to specific values of such attributes as colour, orientation, and motion. These filters have been characterised both neurophysiologically and behaviourally. The single exception is the attribute of flicker that has been characterised neurophysiologically but not behaviourally. Using a visual search paradigm, the authors provide the first behavioural demonstration that flicker is indeed a primitive attribute used by the visual system in stimulus encoding. Consistent with the temporal contrast-sensitivity function, sensitivity to flicker was highest at about 10 Hz and decreased as the flicker rate was either increased or decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does past experience influence visual search strategy (i.e., attentional set)? Recent reports have shown that, when given the option to use 1 of 2 attentional sets, observers persist with the set previously required in a training phase. Here, 2 related questions are addressed. First, does the training effect result only from perseveration with the currently active set or from long-term learning? Experiment 1 supported the latter alternative: When training and test were separated by up to 1 week, to prevent perseveration across the 2 sessions, the training effect was still obtained. Second, is the learning feature-specific (tuned to a precise set of colors) or more abstract? Experiments 2 and 3 supported the latter: When stimulus colors were switched between training and test to remove the possibility of feature-specific learning, the training effect again was obtained. These experiments indicate that attentional set is largely guided by long-term abstract learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing research has revealed that uninformative spatial sounds facilitate the early processing of visual stimuli. This study examined the crossmodal interactions of semantically congruent stimuli by assessing whether the presentation of event-related characteristic sounds facilitated or interfered with the visual search for corresponding event scenes in pictures. The search array consisted of four images: one target and three non-target pictures. Auditory stimuli were presented to participants in synchronization with picture onset using three types of sounds: a sound congruent with a target, a sound congruent with a distractor, or a control sound. The control sound varied across six experiments, alternating between a sound unrelated to the search stimuli, white noise, and no sound. Participants were required to swiftly localize a target position while ignoring the sound presentation. Visual localization resulted in rapid responses when a sound that was semantically related to the target was played. Furthermore, when a sound was semantically related to a distractor picture, the response times were longer. When the distractor-congruent sound was used, participants incorrectly localized the distractor position more often than at the chance level. These findings were replicated when the experiments ruled out the possibility that participants would learn picture-sound pairs during the visual tasks (i.e., the possibility of brief training during the experiments). Overall, event-related crossmodal interactions occur based on semantic representations, and audiovisual associations may develop as a result of long-term experiences rather than brief training in a laboratory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contextual cuing refers to the facilitation of performance in visual search due to the repetition of the same displays. Whereas previous studies have focused on contextual cuing within single-search trials, this study tested whether 1 trial facilitates visual search of the next trial. Participants searched for a T among Ls. In the training phase, the spatial layout on trial N-1 was predictive of the target location on trial N. In the testing phase, the predictive value was removed. Results revealed an intertrial temporal contextual cuing effect: Search speed became progressively shorter in the training phase, but it significantly lengthened during testing. The authors conclude that the visual system is capable of retaining spatial contextual memory established earlier to facilitate perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]