ERIC Number: EJ1417344
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2365-7464
Errors in Visual Search: Are They Stochastic or Deterministic?
Aoqi Li; Johan Hulleman; Jeremy M. Wolfe
Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, v9 Article 15 2024
In any visual search task in the lab or in the world, observers will make errors. Those errors can be categorized as "deterministic": If you miss this target in this display once, you will definitely miss it again. Alternatively, errors can be "stochastic", occurring randomly with some probability from trial to trial. Researchers and practitioners have sought to reduce errors in visual search, but different types of errors might require different techniques for mitigation. To empirically categorize errors in a simple search task, our observers searched for the letter "T" among "L" distractors, with each display presented twice. When the letters were clearly visible (white letters on a gray background), the errors were almost completely stochastic (Exp 1). An error made on the first appearance of a display did not predict that an error would be made on the second appearance. When the visibility of the letters was manipulated (letters of different gray levels on a noisy background), the errors became a mix of stochastic and deterministic. Unsurprisingly, lower contrast targets produced more deterministic errors. (Exp 2). Using the stimuli of Exp 2, we tested whether errors could be reduced using cues that guided attention around the display but knew nothing about the content of that display (Exp3a, b). This had no effect, but cueing all item locations did succeed in reducing deterministic errors (Exp3c).
Descriptors: Visual Perception, Visual Stimuli, Error Patterns, Probability, Task Analysis, Alphabets, Testing
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Eye Institute (NEI) (DHHS/NIH); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Cancer Institute (NCI) (DHHS/NIH)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: EY017001; 2146617; CA207490