The Foreground Bias: Differing impacts across depth on visual search in scenes

Abstract

When you walk into a room, you perceive visual information that is both close to you and farther in depth. In the current study, we investigated how visual search is affected by information across scene depth and contrasted it with the effect of semantic scene context. Across two experiments, participants performed search for target objects appearing either in the foreground or background regions within scenes that were either normally configured or had semantically mismatched foreground and background contexts (Chimera scenes; Castelhano, Fernandes, & Theriault, 2018). In Experiment 1, we found participants had shorter latencies and fewer fixations to the target. This pattern was not explained by target size. In Experiment 2, a preview of the scene prior to search was added to better establish scene context prior to search. Results again show a Foreground Bias, with faster search performance for foreground targets. Together, these studies suggest processing differences across depth in scenes, with a preference for objects closer in space.

The Foreground Bias: Initial Scene Representations Across the Depth Plane

“…For instance, Mazza et al (2005) found in a change-detection task that changes were detected more quickly in the scene foreground than the scene background. More recently, we found that during visual search, target objects were found faster when they were located in the foreground than in the background (even when object size was controlled; Man et al, 2019). Together, these studies suggest that prioritizing the foreground may continue to exert influence in later processing, but further research is needed to delineate its extent.…”

Predictive Processing and Object Recognition

“…In the absence of a perceptual task (e.g., visual search), our attentional resources are preferentially allocated to the identification of objects within our peripersonal space -that is, the region immediately surrounding the perceiver, typically within an arm's reach (for a review, see Castelhano & Krzyś, 2020). As a result, objects within peripersonal space are identified more accurately (Fernandes & Castelhano, 2019;Josephs & Konkle, 2019;Man, Krzys, & Castelhano, 2019). This prioritization of information closer to the perceiver is also known as the "foreground bias."…”

Scene Perception

“…In recent years, interest has grown in how information processing across depth impacts attention and memory of scene representations (Bonner & Epstein, , 2018Josephs & Konkle, 2019;Man et al, 2019). Traditionally, studies of depth perception have examined observers' estimates of distance (Cutting & Vishton, 1995;Nagata, 1991) and how information at different distances is processed: from peripersonal to vista space (Costantini et al, 2011;Cutting & Vishton, 1995;Previc, 1998).…”

“…Recent studies on scene processing have also shown qualitatively different processing of spaces closer to the observer (Bonner & Epstein, 2017, 2018Fernandes & Castelhano, 2021;Josephs & Konkle, 2019;Man et al, 2019). Most recently, Castelhano and Fernandes (2021) found a foreground bias when examining rapid scene perception for images that had mismatched scene categories in the foreground and background (i.e., chimera scenes).…”

“…We can also see how all these processes interact when we go grocery shopping and have a list of items to collect around that space. Not only do you need to navigate to the correct area of the supermarket, but you also need to distinguish among different types of items when you get there and choose an item based on any number of discriminating factors (Castelhano & Heaven, 2010;Castelhano & Krzyś, 2020;Fernandes & Castelhano, 2021;Man et al, 2019). Another way to think about how we interact with scenes is not just within a single indoor space, but spaces as we explore different places.…”