Inhibition of Return in Visual Search Does Not Rely on Spatial Working Memory (original) (raw)
Related papers
Probing Distractor Inhibition in Visual Search: Inhibition of Return
Journal of Experimental Psychology-human Perception and Performance, 2000
The role of inhibition of return (IOR) in serial visual search was reinvestigated using R. paradigm of a search task followed by a probe-detection task. Probes were presented at either the location of a potentially inhibited search distractor or an empty location. No evidence of IOR was obtained when the search objects were removed after the search-task response. But when the search objects remained on, a pattern of effects similar to Klein's results emerged. However, when just the search-critical object parts were removed or when participants received immediate error feedback to prevent rechecking of the search objects, IOR effects were observed only when probes appeared equally likely at search array and empty locations. These results support the operation of object-based IOR in serial visual search, with IOR demonstrable only when rechecking is prevented (facilitating task switching) and monitoring for probes is not biased toward search objects.
What do eye movements reveal about the role of memory in visual search
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2007
have challenged the view that serial visual search involves memory processes that keep track of already inspected locations. The present study used a search paradigm similar to Horowitz and Wolfe's (1998), comparing a standard static search condition with a dynamic condition in which display elements changed locations randomly every 111 ms. In addition to measuring search reaction times, observers' eye movements were recorded. For target-present trials, the search rates were near-identical in the two search conditions, replicating Horowitz and Wolfe's findings. However, the number of fixations and saccade amplitude were larger in the static than in the dynamic condition, whereas fixation duration and the latency of the first saccade were longer in the dynamic condition. These results indicate that an active, memory-guided search strategy was adopted in the static condition, and a passive "sit-and-wait" strategy in the dynamic condition.
Does oculomotor inhibition of return influence fixation probability during scene search?
Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 2011
Oculomotor inhibition of return (IOR) is believed to facilitate scene scanning by decreasing the probability that gaze will return to a previously fixated location. This "foraging" hypothesis was tested during scene search and in response to sudden-onset probes at the immediately previous (one-back) fixation location. The latencies of saccades landing within 1ยบ of the previous fixation location were elevated, consistent with oculomotor IOR. However, there was no decrease in the likelihood that the previous location would be fixated relative to distance-matched controls or an a priori baseline. Saccades exhibit an overall forward bias, but this is due to a general bias to move in the same direction and for the same distance as the last saccade (saccadic momentum) rather than to a spatially specific tendency to avoid previously fixated locations. We find no evidence that oculomotor IOR has a significant impact on return probability during scene search.
Finding memory in search: The effect of visual working memory load on visual search
2010
There is now substantial evidence that during visual search, previously searched distractors are stored in memory to prevent them from being re-selected. Studies examining which memory resources are involved in this process have indicated that while a concurrent spatial working memory task does affect search slopes, depleting visual working memory (VWM) resources does not. In the present study, we confirm that VWM load indeed has no effect on the search slope, however, there is an increase in overall reaction times that is directly related to the number of items held in VWM. Importantly, this effect on search time increases proportionally with the memory load until the capacity of VWM is reached. Furthermore, the search task interfered with the number of items stored in VWM during the concurrent change-detection task. These findings suggest that VWM plays a role in the inhibition of previously searched distractors.
Prioritization in visual search: Visual marking is not dependent on a mnemonic search
Attention Perception & Psychophysics, 2002
Visual marking (VM) refers to our ability to completely exclude old items from search when new stimuli are presented in our visual field. We examined whether this ability reflects an attentional scan of the old items, possibly allowing observers to apply inhibition of return or maintain a memory representation of already seen locations. In four experiments, we compared performance in two search conditions. In the double-search (DS) condition, we required participants to pay attention to a first set of items by having them search for a target within the set. Subsequently, they had to search a second set while the old items remained in the field. In the VM condition, the participants expected the target only to be in the second (new) set. Selection of new items in the DS condition was relatively poor and was always worse than would be expected if only the new stimuli had been searched. In contrast, selection of the new items in the VM condition was good and was equal to what would be expected if there had been an exclusive search of the new stimuli. These results were not altered when differences in Set 1 difficulty, task switching, and response generation were controlled for. We conclude that the mechanism of VM is distinct from mnemonic and/or serial inhibition-of-return processes as involved in search, although we also discuss possible links to more global and flexible inhibition-of-return processes not necessarily related to search.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2006
Paying attention to an object facilitates its storage in working memory. The authors investigate whether the opposite is also true: whether items in working memory influence the deployment of attention. Participants performed a search for a prespecified target while they held another item in working memory. In some trials this memory item was present in the search display as a distractor. Such a distractor has no effect on search time if the search target is in the display. In that case, the item in working memory is unlikely to be selected as a target for an eye movement, and if the eyes do land on it, fixation duration is short. In the absence of the target, however, there is a small but significant effect of the memory item on search time. The authors conclude that the target for visual search has a special status in working memory that allows it to guide attention. Guidance of attention by other items in working memory is much weaker and can be observed only if the search target is not present in the display.
Spatial attention can bias search in visual short-term memory
Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2007
Whereas top-down attentional control is known to bias perceptual functions at many levels of stimulus analysis, its possible influence over memory-related functions remains uncharted. Our experiment combined behavioral measures and event-related potentials (ERPs) to test the ability of spatial orienting to bias functions associated with visual short-term memory (VSTM), and to shed light on the neural mechanisms involved. In particular, we investigated whether orienting attention to a spatial location within an array maintained in VSTM could facilitate the search for a specific remembered item. Participants viewed arrays of one, two or four differently colored items, followed by an informative spatial (100% valid) or uninformative neutral retro-cue (1500-2500 ms after the array), and later by a probe stimulus (500-1000 ms after the retro-cue). The task was to decide whether the probe stimulus had been present in the array. Behavioral results showed that spatial retro-cues improved bo...