The Predation Game: Does dividing attention affect patterns of human foraging?

Thornton, Ian M.; Tagu, Jérôme; Zdravković, Sunčica; Kristjánsson, Árni

doi:10.1186/s41235-021-00299-w

“…In contrast, this study showed that visual foraging, unlike other search tasks, was resistant to interruption; at least, to the interruptions that were used here. While continuous and spatial interruptions affect working memory capacity and target template switching in visual foraging (Thornton et al, 2021 ), temporal pauses do not significantly impact patch-leaving decision or overall outcomes of collection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Forces in the real world will complicate foraging situations. Berry picking behavior will change if there are other pickers in the field or if there is a wolf, engaging in own “foraging” behavior (Thornton et al, 2021 ). In human foraging tasks, behavior will be quite different if the task puts high value on finding all targets, rather than maximizing the rate (Jóhannesson et al, 2016 ; Kristjánsson et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We can distinguish this from “interference” where something occurs that might slow or alter ongoing foraging behavior. In the human literature, a good example of interference is found in the work of Thornton et al ( 2021 ). In their paradigm, foraging human “sheep” needed to keep an eye out for “wolves” who might suddenly turn hostile.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Research on re-searching: interrupted foraging is not disrupted foraging

Hong,

Wolfe

2024

Cogn. Research

0

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In classic visual search, observers typically search for the presence of a target in a scene or display. In foraging tasks, there may be multiple targets in the same display (or “patch”). Observers typically search for and collect these target items in one patch until they decide to leave that patch and move to the next one. This is a highly rule-governed behavior. The current study investigated whether these rules are disrupted when the foraging is interrupted in various manners. In Experiment 1, the foraging was briefly interrupted and then resumed in the same patch. In Experiments 2 and 3, the foraging in each patch either ended voluntarily or compulsorily after a fixed amount of time. In these cases, foraging resumed in a patch only after all patches were visited. Overall, the rules of foraging remained largely intact, though Experiment 2 shows that foraging rules can be overridden by the demand characteristics of the task. The results show that participants tended to perform approximately consistently despite interruptions. The results suggest that foraging behavior in a relatively simple foraging environment is resilient and not easily disrupted by interruption.

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“…Kristjánsson et al, 2018;Thornton et al, 2019) and 3D (T. Prpic et al, 2019) scenarios. Factors explored to-date include selection difficulty (Á. , selection modality (Jóhannesson et al, 2016;Tagu & Kristjánsson, 2022;Thornton et al, 2019), time constraints (T. Kristjánsson et al, 2018;Thornton et al, 2020) and focused versus divided attention (Thornton, Tagu, et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of visual and auditory synchrony on human foraging

Makarov,

Unnthorsson,

Kristjánsson

et al. 2024

Atten Percept Psychophys

Self Cite

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Can synchrony in stimulation guide attention and aid perceptual performance? Here, in a series of three experiments, we tested the influence of visual and auditory synchrony on attentional selection during a visual foraging task. Experiment 1 was performed online, where the task was to forage for 10 (out of 20) vertical lines among 60 randomly oriented distractor lines that changed color between yellow and blue at random intervals. The targets either changed colors in visual synchrony or not. In another condition, a non-spatial sound additionally occurred synchronously with the color change of the targets. Experiment 2 was run in the laboratory (within-subjects) with the same design. When the targets changed color in visual synchrony, foraging times were significantly shorter than when they randomly changed colors, but there was no additional benefit for the sound synchrony. In Experiment 3, task difficulty was increased as participants foraged for as many 45° rotated lines as possible among lines of different orientations within 10 seconds, with the same synchrony conditions as in Experiments 1 and 2. Again, there was a large benefit of visual synchrony but no additional benefit for sound synchronization. Our results provide strong evidence that visual synchronization can guide attention during multiple target foraging. This likely reflects temporal grouping of the synchronized targets. No additional benefit occurred for sound synchrony, even when the foraging task was quite difficult (Experiment 3).

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“…Kristjánsson et al, 2018;Thornton et al, 2019) and 3D (T. Prpic et al, 2019) scenarios. Factors explored to-date include selection difficulty (Á. , selection modality (Jóhannesson et al, 2016;Tagu & Kristjánsson, 2022;Thornton et al, 2019), time constraints (T. Kristjánsson et al, 2018;Thornton et al, 2020) and focused versus divided attention (Thornton, Tagu, et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of visual and auditory synchrony on human foraging

Makarov¹,

Unnþórsson²,

Kristjánsson³

et al. 2023

Preprint

0

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Can synchrony in stimulation guide attention and aid perceptual performance? Here, in a series of three experiments, we tested the influence of visual and auditory synchrony on attentional selection during a visual foraging task. Experiment 1 was performed online, where the task was to forage for 10 (out of 20) vertical lines among 60 randomly oriented distractor lines that changed color between yellow and blue at random intervals. The targets either changed colors in visual synchrony or not. In another condition, a non-spatial sound additionally occurred synchronously with the color change of the targets. Experiment 2 was run in the laboratory (within-subjects) with the same design. When the targets changed color in visual synchrony, foraging times were significantly shorter than when they randomly changed colors, but there was no additional benefit for the sound synchrony. In Experiment 3, task difficulty was increased as participants foraged for as many 45° rotated lines as possible among lines of different orientations within 10 seconds, with the same synchrony conditions as in Experiments 1 and 2. Again, there was a large benefit of visual synchrony but no additional benefit for sound synchronization. Our results provide strong evidence that visual synchronization can guide attention during multiple target foraging. This likely reflects temporal grouping of the synchronized targets. No additional benefit occurred for sound synchrony, even when the foraging task was quite difficult (Experiment 3).

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The Predation Game: Does dividing attention affect patterns of human foraging?

Cited by 7 publications

References 82 publications

Research on re-searching: interrupted foraging is not disrupted foraging

Research on re-searching: interrupted foraging is not disrupted foraging

The effects of visual and auditory synchrony on human foraging

The effects of visual and auditory synchrony on human foraging

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