Top-down inhibition of search distractors in parallel visual search (original) (raw)
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Visual Cognition
When the spatial configuration of a search display is presented repeatedly, response times to finding the target within that configuration are shorter compared to completely novel configurations, even though observers do not have explicit recognition of the repetition. This phenomenon is known as Contextual Cueing and selective attention is thought to be necessary for the effect. Previous research has suggested that repetition of the context of unattended items does not appear to improve performance; only repetition of attended items does. It has been proposed that this occurs because unattended items are pre-attentively filtered and thus do not contribute to performance. Here we demonstrate that so-called "unattended" items do contribute to performance, just not to contextual cueing. We approach this question from the perspective of the parallel processing of the scene that unfolds at the start of each item and that has been recently modelled by the Target Contrast Signal Theory. We show that the processing time per item during parallel evaluation of the scene is not affected by context repetition, suggesting that the locations of the items rejected in this stage are not integrated into the memory representation underlying contextual cueing. Other alternatives are also discussed.
Parallel Distractor Rejection as a Binding Mechanism in Search
Frontiers in Psychology, 2012
The relatively common experimental visual search task of finding a red X amongst red O's and green X's (conjunction search) presents the visual system with a binding problem. Illusory conjunctions (ICs) of features across objects must be avoided and only features present in the same object bound together. Correct binding into unique objects by the visual system may be promoted, and ICs minimized, by inhibiting the locations of distractors possessing non-target features (e.g., . Such parallel rejection of interfering distractors leaves the target as the only item competing for selection; thus solving the binding problem. In the present article we explore the theoretical and empirical basis of this process of active distractor inhibition in search. Specific experiments that provide strong evidence for a process of active distractor inhibition in search are highlighted. In the final part of the article we consider how distractor inhibition, as defined here, may be realized at a neurophysiological level .
Tracking target and distractor processing in visual search: Evidence from human electrophysiology
The issue of whether salient distractors capture attention has been contentious for over 20 years. According to the salience-driven selection theory, the most salient location in the display is detected preattentively, after which attention is deployed automatically to that location. By other accounts, attentional deployment to the location of an item is contingent upon the task-relevance of that item. In the present work, six experiments employed the event-related potential (ERP) technique to examine the salience-driven selection and other theories of visual search. The experiments adopted additional singleton search, pop-out detection, and attentional-window paradigms. The ERP evidence obtained from the additional-singleton paradigm indicated that although the location of a salient item -whether a target or a distractor -was registered relatively early, the salient distractor did not capture attention consistently. Moreover, when the features of the salient distractor were held constant, observers were occasionally able to suppress the location of the distractor, thereby improving the efficiency of the search.
Frontiers in psychology, 2016
Some targets in visual search are more difficult to find than others. In particular, a target that is similar to the distractors is more difficult to find than a target that is dissimilar to the distractors. Efficiency differences between easy and difficult searches are manifest not only in target-present trials but also in target-absent trials. In fact, even physically identical displays are searched through with different efficiency depending on the searched-for target. Here, we monitored eye movements in search for a target similar to the distractors (difficult search) versus a target dissimilar to the distractors (easy search). We aimed to examine three hypotheses concerning the causes of differential search efficiencies in target-absent trials: (a) distractor dwelling (b) distractor skipping, and (c) distractor revisiting. Reaction times increased with target similarity which is consistent with existing theories and replicates earlier results. Eye movement data indicated guidan...
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
Observers can learn the likely locations of salient distractors in visual search, reducing their potential to cause interference. While there is agreement that this involves positional suppression of the likely distractor location(s), it is contentious at which stage the suppression operates: the search-guiding priority map, which integrates feature-contrast signals (e.g., generated by a red amongst green or a diamond amongst circular items) across dimensions, or the distractor-defining dimension. On the latter, dimension-based account , processing of, say, a shape-defined target should be unaffected by distractor suppression when the distractor is defined by color, because in this case only color signals would be suppressed. At odds with this, Wang & Theeuwes (2018a) found slowed processing of the target when it appeared at the likely (vs. an unlikely) distractor location, consistent with priority-map-based suppression. Adopting their paradigm, the present study replicated this target location effect. Crucially, however, changing the paradigm by making the target appear as likely at the frequent as at any of the rare distractor locations and making the distractor/non-distractor color assignment consistent abolished the target location effect, without impacting the reduced interference for distractors at the frequent location. These findings support a flexible locus of spatial distractor suppressionpriority-map-or dimension-based -depending on the prominence of distractor 'cues' provided by the paradigm.
The depth of distractor processing in search with clutter
Perception, 2007
Some search tasks involve looking for a category target in clutter. This is the task faced, for example, by a baggage screener looking for weapons in a suitcase. Such tasks presumably involve the segmentation and recognition of the target object, but it is unknown whether they also involve the segmentation and recognition of the distractor objects. To examine the depth of distractor processing in this task, we had observers search through cluttered displays composed of normal and chimerical distractors. The normal distractors were photographs of recognizable objects, while the chimerical distractors were created by interchanging parts between the normal objects. The obsever's task was to identify the display quadrant that contained an animal or a vehicle target. We varied the difficulty of the search task by varying target and distractor discriminability, target uncertainty, and target occlusion. Only when the target was partially occluded did we find an effect of distractor typ...
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.
Contextual cueing of pop-out visual search: When context guides the deployment of attention
Journal of Vision, 2010
Visual context information can guide attention in demanding (i.e., inefficient) search tasks. When participants are repeatedly presented with identically arranged ('repeated') displays, reaction times are faster relative to newly composed ('non-repeated') displays. The present article examines whether this 'contextual cueing' effect operates also in simple (i.e., efficient) search tasks and if so, whether there it influences target, rather than response, selection. The results were that singleton-feature targets were detected faster when the search items were presented in repeated, rather than non-repeated, arrangements. Importantly, repeated, relative to novel, displays also led to an increase in signal detection accuracy. Thus, contextual cueing can expedite the selection of pop-out targets, most likely by enhancing feature contrast signals at the overall-salience computation stage.
Visual Cognition, 2017
Prominent models of overt and covert visual search focus on explaining search efficiency by visual guidance. That some searches are fast whereas others are slow is explained by the ability of the target to guide attention to the target's position. Comparably little attention is given to other variables that might also influence search efficiency, such as dwelling on distractors, skipping distractors, and revisiting distractors. Here, we examine the relative contributions of dwelling, skipping, rescanning, and the use of visual guidance, in explaining visual search times in general, and the similarity effect in particular. The hallmark of the similarity effect is more efficient search for a target that is dissimilar to the distractors compared to a target that is similar to the distractors. In the present experiment, participants have to find an emotional face target among nine neutral face non-targets. In different blocks, the target is either more or less similar to the non-targets. Eye-tracking is used to separately measure selection latency, dwelling on distractors, and skipping and revisiting of distractors. As expected, visual search times show a large similarity effect. Similarity also has strong effects on dwelling, skipping, and revisiting, but only weak effects on visual guidance. Regression analyses show that dwelling, skipping, and revisiting determine search times on trial level. The influence of dwelling and revisiting is stronger in target absent than in target present trials, whereas the opposite is true for skipping. The similarity effect is best explained by dwelling. Additionally, including a measure of guidance does not yield substantial benefits. In sum, results indicate that guidance by the target is not the sole principle behind fast search; rather, distractors are less often skipped, more often visited, and longer dwelled on in slow search conditions.