Spatial and/or temporal adjustments of scanning behavior to visibility changes.

Abstract This paper continues a series of studies focussing on elementary processes controlling eye movements in visual search and reading. It investigates the question of how scanning behavior in a letter search task adjusts to changes in spatial visibility created by different visual factors, such as viewing distance, inter-letter spacing and target-background similarity. Each of the three visual factors is found to affect scanning behavior in a different way, either by changing its spatial parameter (saccade size) or its temporal (fixation duration), or both of them at the same time. Possible mechanisms underlying these effects are discussed.

[1]  Wolfgang Prinz,et al.  Recording detection distances in continuous visual search , 1982 .

[2]  H. Bouma,et al.  Visual search and reading : eye movements and functional visual field : a tutorial review , 1978 .

[3]  Bruno G. Breitmeyer,et al.  Simple reaction time as a measure of the temporal response properties of transient and sustained channels , 1975, Vision Research.

[4]  F. L. Engel.  Visual conspicuity, visual search and fixation tendencies of the eye , 1977, Vision Research.

[5]  Carl R. Eklund.  The Antarctic Skua , 1964 .

[6]  A. Jacobs.  Eye-movement control in visual search: How direct is visual span control? , 1986, Perception & psychophysics.

[7]  W. Becker,et al.  An analysis of the saccadic system by means of double step stimuli , 1979, Vision Research.

[8]  Donald L. Fisher,et al.  EYE MOVEMENTS AND THE PERCEPTUAL SPAN DURING VISUAL SEARCH , 1987 .

[9]  G Wolford,et al.  Lateral masking as a function of spacing , 1983, Perception & psychophysics.

[10]  Arthur M. Jacobs,et al.  The effect of visibility on eye-movement parameters in reading , 1983, Perception & psychophysics.

[11]  B. Breitmeyer.  Unmasking visual masking: a look at the "why" behind the veil of the "how". , 1980, Psychological review.

[12]  Gert Hauske,et al.  Perceptual latencies to sinusoidal gratings , 1976, Vision Research.

[13]  E. Javal,et al.  Essai sur la physiologie de la lecture , 1878 .

[14]  R. E. Morrison,et al.  Manipulation of stimulus onset delay in reading: evidence for parallel programming of saccades. , 1984, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[15]  G. McConkie,et al.  What guides a reader's eye movements? , 1976, Vision Research.

[16]  A F Sanders,et al.  Some aspects of the selective process in the functional visual field. , 1970, Ergonomics.

[17]  E Scheerer,et al.  Expansion of the functional visual field and context skipping in a continuous search task , 1978, Psychological research.

[18]  D J Mewhort,et al.  Blank characters in tachistoscopic recognition: space has both a symbolic and a sensory role. , 1982, Canadian journal of psychology.

[19]  J. D. Gould,et al.  Eye movements during visual search and memory search. , 1973, Journal of experimental psychology.

[20]  John M. Findlay,et al.  Visual Information Processing for Saccadic Eye Movements , 1983 .

[21]  G. Keren,et al.  Recognition models of alphanumeric characters. , 1981, Perception & psychophysics.

[22]  Kevin O’Regan,et al.  Saccade size control in reading: Evidence for the linguistic control hypothesis , 1979, Perception & psychophysics.

[23]  Saul Sternberg,et al.  The discovery of processing stages: Extensions of Donders' method , 1969 .

[24]  A M Jacobs.  On the role of blank spaces for eye-movement control in visual search , 1987, Perception & psychophysics.

[25]  D. P. Andrews,et al.  APE: Adaptive probit estimation of psychometric functions , 1981 .

[26]  M. M. Taylor,et al.  PEST: Efficient Estimates on Probability Functions , 1967 .

[27]  K Rayner,et al.  Saccade size in reading depends upon character spaces and not visual angle , 1981, Perception & psychophysics.

[28]  I. Gordon.  Interactions between items in visual search. , 1968, Journal of experimental psychology.

[29]  K. Rayner,et al.  Eye Movement Control during Reading: Evidence for Direct Control , 1981, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[30]  K Moffitt,et al.  Evaluation of the fixation duration in visual search , 1980, Perception & psychophysics.