Concurrent evaluation of independently cued features during perceptual decisions and saccadic targeting in visual search
Open Access
- 9 September 2019
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics
- Vol. 82 (3), 966-984
- https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-019-01854-w
Abstract
Simultaneous search for one of two targets is slower and less accurate than search for a single target. Within the Signal Detection Theoretic (SDT) framework, this can be attributed to the division of resources during the comparison of visual input against independently cued targets. The current study used one or two cues to elicit single- and dual-target searches for orientation targets among similar and dissimilar distractors. In Experiment 1, the accuracy of target discrimination in brief displays was compared at setsizes of 1, 2 and 4. Results revealed a reduction in accuracy that scaled with the product of set size and the number of cued targets. In Experiment 2, the accuracy and latency of observers’ saccadic targeting were compared. Fixations on single-target searches were highly selective towards the target. On dual-target searches, the requirement to detect one of two targets produced a significant reduction in target fixations and equivalent rates of fixations to distractors with opposite orientations. For most observers, the dual-target cost was predicted by an SDT model that simulated increases in decision-noise and the distribution of capacity-limited resources during the comparison of selected input against independently cued targets. For others, search accuracy was consistent with a single-item limit on perceptual decisions and saccadic targeting during search. These findings support a flexible account of the dual-target cost based on different strategies to resolve competition between independently cued targets.Keywords
Funding Information
- University of Leicester
This publication has 85 references indexed in Scilit:
- Attentional Templates in Visual Working MemoryJournal of Neuroscience, 2011
- Set-specific capture can be reduced by pre-emptively occupying a limited-capacity focus of attentionVisual Cognition, 2011
- Search for multiple targets of different colours: Misguided eye movements reveal a reduction of colour selectivityApplied Cognitive Psychology, 2011
- Attention, Intention, and Priority in the Parietal LobeAnnual Review of Neuroscience, 2010
- Discrete capacity limits in visual working memoryCurrent Opinion in Neurobiology, 2010
- On the Origin of Event-Related Potentials Indexing Covert Attentional Selection During Visual SearchJournal of Neurophysiology, 2009
- How spatial and feature-based attention affect the gain and tuning of population responsesVision Research, 2009
- Dynamic Shifts of Limited Working Memory Resources in Human VisionScience, 2008
- Eye movement statistics in humans are consistent with an optimal search strategyJournal of Vision, 2008
- Feature-selective attention enhances color signals in early visual areas of the human brainProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2006