Many real-world tasks now involve monitoring visual representations of data that change dynamically over time. Monitoring dynamically changing displays for the onset of targets can be done in two ways: detecting targets directly, post-onset, or predicting their onset from the prior state of distractors. In the present study, participants' eye movements were measured as they monitored arrays of 108 colored squares whose colors changed systematically over time.Across three experiments, the data show that participants detected the onset of targets both directly and predictively. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that predictive detection was only possible when supported by sequential color changes that followed a scale ordered in color space. Experiment 3 included measures of individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) and anxious affect and a manipulation of target prevalence in the search task. It found that predictive monitoring for targets, and decisions about target onsets, were influenced by interactions between individual differences in verbal and spatial WMC and intolerance of uncertainty, a characteristic that reflects worry about uncertain future events. The results have implications for the selection of individuals tasked with monitoring dynamic visual displays for target onsets. Public Significance StatementThe present study shows that onset of color targets in dynamically changing displays can be predicted when changes follow an ordered color space. However, prediction can increase false alarm rate, especially for individuals with low verbal working memory capacity and high intolerance of uncertainty, a characteristic reflecting response to uncertain future events.Implications exist for color scale design when representing dynamically changing data and for personnel selection in display monitoring. Monitoring electronic displays for the onset of targets is a key part of many real world activities and involves sustaining attention over a set of items whose state (or identity) can change (Warm, Finomore, Vidulich, & Funke, 2015;Warm & Parasuraman, 2008). There will be occasions when changes are minimal and all items remain as distractors requiring observers to take no action. There will also be occasions when some items switch from a distractor to a target state requiring a response to be made. The present set of experiments explores the psychological attributes that support the monitoring for the onset of a target color amongst an array of items that change color over the time course of a trial. KeywordsTo provide a detailed real-world example of this type of scenario, consider the case where the colors of items in a display are coded to reflect the density of geological rock formations in a 3D volume (e.g. Donnelly, Cave, Welland, & Menneer, 2006; see Figure 1). In this case, the density of sandstone might be coded as blue, limestone as white, and shale as red.A geologist might sequentially inspect 2D slices of this volume in the hope of finding red in the display, an indicator of hydrocar...

Performance in everyday tasks, such as driving and sport, requires allocation of attention to task-relevant information and the ability to inhibit task-irrelevant information. Yet there are individual differences in this attentional function ability. This research investigates a novel task for measuring attention for action, called the Multiple Object Avoidance task (MOA), in its relation to the everyday tasks of driving and sport. The aim in Study 1 was to explore the efficacy of the MOA task to predict simulated driving behaviour and hazard perception. Whilst also investigating its test–retest reliability and how it correlates to self-report driving measures. We found that superior performance in the MOA task predicted simulated driving performance in complex environments and was superior at predicting performance compared to the Useful Field of View task. We found a moderate test–retest reliability and a correlation between the attentional lapses subscale of the Driving Behaviour Questionnaire. Study 2 investigated the discriminative power of the MOA in sport by exploring performance differences in those that do and do not play sports. We also investigated if the MOA shared attentional elements with other measures of visual attention commonly attributed to sporting expertise: Multiple Object Tracking (MOT) and cognitive processing speed. We found that those that played sports exhibited superior MOA performance and found a positive relationship between MOA performance and Multiple Object Tracking performance and cognitive processing speed. Collectively, this research highlights the utility of the MOA when investigating visual attention in everyday contexts.

There has been an increasing drive to understand failures in searches for weapons and explosives in X-ray baggage screening. Tracking eye movements during the search has produced new insights into the guidance of attention during the search, and the identification of targets once they are fixated. Here, we review the eye-movement literature that has emerged on this front over the last fifteen years, including a discussion of the problems that real-world searchers face when trying to detect targets that could do serious harm to people and infrastructure.

Target onsets in dynamically changing displays can be predicted when contingencies exist between different stimulus states over time. In the present study, we examined predictive monitoring when participants searched dynamically changing displays of numbers and colored squares for a color target, a number target, or both. Stimuli were presented in both contiguous and discrete spatial configurations. Response time (RT) and accuracy were recorded, and evidence of predictive monitoring was assessed via first fixations and refixations of target-predictive stimuli. RTs to target onsets and evidence of predictive monitoring were reduced in dual-target, relative to single-target, conditions. Further, predictive monitoring did not speed RTs but was influenced by display configuration. In particular, discrete displays impaired monitoring for number targets in the dual-target condition. Implications exist for real-world visual tasks involving multiple target categories and for visual display design.

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