Stable individual differences in strategies within, but not between, visual search tasks.

A striking range of individual differences has recently been reported in three different visual search tasks. These differences in performance can be attributed to strategy, that is, the efficiency with which participants control their search to complete the task quickly and accurately. Here, we ask whether an individual's strategy and performance in one search task is correlated with how they perform in the other two. We tested 64 observers and found that even though the test-retest reliability of the tasks was high, an observer's performance and strategy in one task was not predictive of their behaviour in the other two. These results suggest search strategies are stable over time, but context-specific. To understand visual search, we therefore need to account not only for differences between individuals but also how individuals interact with the search task and context.

[1]  A. Hunt,et al.  Practice-related changes in eye movement strategy in healthy adults with simulated hemianopia , 2018, Neuropsychologia.

[2]  Árni Kristjánsson,et al.  Are Foraging Patterns in Humans Related to Working Memory and Inhibitory Control , 2017 .

[3]  Andrew B. Leber,et al.  A methodological toolbox for investigating attentional strategy. , 2019, Current opinion in psychology.

[4]  D H Brainard,et al.  The Psychophysics Toolbox. , 1997, Spatial vision.

[5]  Andrew B. Leber,et al.  Characterizing Individual Variation in the Strategic Use of Attentional Control , 2018, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[6]  Jessica L. Irons,et al.  Choosing attentional control settings in a dynamically changing environment , 2016, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.

[7]  I. Gilchrist,et al.  Evidence for a systematic component within scan paths in visual search , 2006 .

[8]  Frans W Cornelissen,et al.  The Eyelink Toolbox: Eye tracking with MATLAB and the Psychophysics Toolbox , 2002, Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers : a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.

[9]  Amelia R Hunt,et al.  Human search for a target on a textured background is consistent with a stochastic model. , 2016, Journal of vision.

[10]  Alasdair D. F. Clarke,et al.  Seeing Beyond Salience and Guidance: The Role of Bias and Decision in Visual Search , 2019, Vision.

[11]  A. Treisman,et al.  A feature-integration theory of attention , 1980, Cognitive Psychology.

[12]  A. Hunt,et al.  Inefficient search strategies in simulated hemianopia. , 2016, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[13]  I. Thornton,et al.  Meditation, Cognitive Flexibility and Well-Being , 2017 .

[14]  Axel Cleeremans,et al.  Lower Attentional Skills predict increased exploratory foraging patterns , 2019, Scientific Reports.

[15]  Árni Kristjánsson,et al.  Common Attentional Constraints in Visual Foraging , 2014, PloS one.

[16]  R. Klein,et al.  Inhibition of return , 2000, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[17]  J. C. Johnston,et al.  Involuntary covert orienting is contingent on attentional control settings. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[18]  Walter R. Boot,et al.  Detecting Transient Changes in Dynamic Displays: The More You Look, the Less You See , 2006, Hum. Factors.

[19]  Andrew B. Leber,et al.  Taking stock: The role of environmental appraisal in the strategic use of attentional control , 2018, Attention, perception & psychophysics.

[20]  Jiri Najemnik,et al.  Eye movement statistics in humans are consistent with an optimal search strategy. , 2008, Journal of vision.

[21]  K. Nakayama,et al.  Super-recognizers: People with extraordinary face recognition ability , 2009, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[22]  M. Dawkins.  Shifts of ‘attention’ in chicks during feeding , 1971 .

[23]  A. Hunt,et al.  Human visual search behaviour is far from ideal , 2017, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[24]  Annchen R. Knodt,et al.  The reliability paradox: Why robust cognitive tasks do not produce reliable individual differences , 2017, Behavior Research Methods.

[25]  E. Vogel,et al.  CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE How to Exploit Diversity for Scientific Gain Using Individual Differences to Constrain Cognitive Theory , 2022 .

[26]  S. Yantis,et al.  On the distinction between visual salience and stimulus-driven attentional capture. , 1999, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[27]  Tilbe Göksun,et al.  The development of organized visual search. , 2013, Acta psychologica.

[28]  Krista A. Ehinger,et al.  Guided Search 5.0: Meeting the challenge of hybrid search and multiple-target foraging. , 2015, Journal of vision.

[29]  N. Mackworth.  The Breakdown of Vigilance during Prolonged Visual Search 1 , 1948 .