Dimension-specific signal modulation in visual search: Evidence from inter-stimulus surround suppression

Chan, Louis K. H.; Hayward, William G.

doi:10.1167/12.4.10

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…What is the next step in visual search? Within the current framework, we know very little about how perceptual signals of stimuli are transformed into functional guiding activations, 103 even though we know that they are distinct. 104 We also know very little about how a detection response is made.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual search

Chan

Hayward

2013

WIRES Cognitive Science

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Visual search is the act of looking for a predefined target among other objects. This task has been widely used as an experimental paradigm to study visual attention, and because of its influence has also become a subject of research itself. When used as a paradigm, visual search studies address questions including the nature, function, and limits of preattentive processing and focused attention. As a subject of research, visual search studies address the role of memory in search, the procedures involved in search, and factors that affect search performance. In this article, we review major theories of visual search, the ways in which preattentive information is used to guide attentional allocation, the role of memory, and the processes and decisions involved in its successful completion. We conclude by summarizing the current state of knowledge about visual search and highlight some unresolved issues. WIREs Cogn Sci 2013, 4:415-429. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1235 The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual search

Chan

Hayward

2013

WIRES Cognitive Science

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“…In the majority of studies of visual search, observers (Os) search for a single type of target that may or may not be present amongst distractor items (Chan & Hayward, 2012; Wolfe, 2012). However, in the real world, we frequently search for one of many possible targets in the same image.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid search in the temporal domain: Evidence for rapid, serial logarithmic search through memory

Drew

Wolfe

2013

Atten Percept Psychophys

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In hybrid search, observers memorize a number of possible targets and then search for any of these in visual arrays of items. Wolfe (2012) has previously shown that reaction times in hybrid search increase with the log of the memory set size. What enables this logarithmic search of memory? One possibility is a series of steps in which subsets of the memory set are compared to all items in the visual set simultaneously. In the current experiments, we presented single visual items sequentially in a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) display, eliminating the possibility of simultaneous testing of all items. We used a staircasing procedure to estimate the time necessary to effectively detect the target in the RSVP stream. Processing time increased in a loglinear fashion with number of potential targets. This eliminates the class of models that requires simultaneous comparison of some memory items to all (or many) items in the visual display. Experiment Three shows memory search efficiency is influenced by similarity between the target set and the distractors in the RSVP stream as it is in visual search. These results indicate that observers perform separate memory searches on each eligible item in the visual display. Moreover, it appears that memory search for one item can proceed while other items are being categorized as “eligible” or not.

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“…These competitive interactions have also been referred to as surround suppression; that is, stimuli are not processed independently but are influenced (suppressed) by surrounding stimuli (Blakemore and Tobin, 1972; Snowden et al, 1991; Knierim and Van Essen, 1992; Miller et al, 1993; Kastner et al, 1998, 2001; Reynolds et al, 1999; Bair et al, 2003). In keeping with such suppressive interactions, the presence of nearby stimuli can impair performance on a variety of tasks (Cave and Zimmerman, 1997; Bahcall and Kowler, 1999; Mounts, 2000; Kristjánsson et al, 2002; McCarley et al, 2004; Alvarez and Franconeri, 2007; Shim et al, 2008; Hilimire et al, 2009; Franconeri et al, 2010; Chan and Hayward, 2012). Top–down attention, however, serves to isolate the attended items from their surround (Moran and Desimone, 1985; Luck et al, 1997; Recanzone et al, 1997; Kastner et al, 1998; Reynolds et al, 1999; Recanzone and Wurtz, 2000; Sundberg et al, 2009) that is, the influence of the unattended stimuli is suppressed.…”

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confidence: 99%

Enhancement and suppression in the visual field under perceptual load

2013

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The perceptual load theory of attention proposes that the degree to which visual distractors are processed is a function of the attentional demands of a task—greater demands increase filtering of irrelevant distractors. The spatial configuration of such filtering is unknown. Here, we used steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) in conjunction with time-domain event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the distribution of load-induced distractor suppression and task-relevant enhancement in the visual field. Electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded while subjects performed a foveal go/no-go task that varied in perceptual load. Load-dependent distractor suppression was assessed by presenting a contrast reversing ring at one of three eccentricities (2, 6, or 11°) during performance of the go/no-go task. Rings contrast reversed at 8.3 Hz, allowing load-dependent changes in distractor processing to be tracked in the frequency-domain. ERPs were calculated to the onset of stimuli in the load task to examine load-dependent modulation of task-relevant processing. Results showed that the amplitude of the distractor SSVEP (8.3 Hz) was attenuated under high perceptual load (relative to low load) at the most proximal (2°) eccentricity but not at more eccentric locations (6 or 11°). Task-relevant ERPs revealed a significant increase in N1 amplitude under high load. These results are consistent with a center-surround configuration of load-induced enhancement and suppression in the visual field.

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Dimension-specific signal modulation in visual search: Evidence from inter-stimulus surround suppression

Cited by 7 publications

References 37 publications

Visual search

Visual search

Hybrid search in the temporal domain: Evidence for rapid, serial logarithmic search through memory

Enhancement and suppression in the visual field under perceptual load

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