Visual Search (visual + search)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Terms modified by Visual Search

  • visual search task

  • Selected Abstracts


    Visual search in typically developing toddlers and toddlers with Fragile X or Williams syndrome

    DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2004
    Gaia Scerif
    Visual selective attention is the ability to attend to relevant visual information and ignore irrelevant stimuli. Little is known about its typical and atypical development in early childhood. Experiment 1 investigates typically developing toddlers' visual search for multiple targets on a touch-screen. Time to hit a target, distance between successively touched items, accuracy and error types revealed changes in 2- and 3-year-olds' vulnerability to manipulations of the search display. Experiment 2 examined search performance by toddlers with Fragile X syndrome (FXS) or Williams syndrome (WS). Both of these groups produced equivalent mean time and distance per touch as typically developing toddlers matched by chronological or mental age; but both produced a larger number of errors. Toddlers with WS confused distractors with targets more than the other groups; while toddlers with FXS perseverated on previously found targets. These findings provide information on how visual search typically develops in toddlers, and reveal distinct search deficits for atypically developing toddlers. [source]


    Visual search and urban driving under the influence of marijuana and alcohol

    HUMAN PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY: CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL, Issue 5 2001
    C. T. J. Lamers
    Abstract The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of low doses of marijuana and alcohol, and their combination, on visual search at intersections and on general driving proficiency in the City Driving Test. Sixteen recreational users of alcohol and marijuana (eight males and eight females) were treated with these substances or placebo according to a balanced, 4-way, cross-over, observer- and subject-blind design. On separate evenings, subjects received weight-calibrated doses of THC, alcohol or placebo in each of the following treatment conditions: alcohol placebo + THC placebo, alcohol + THC placebo, THC 100,,g/kg + alcohol placebo, THC 100,,g/kg + alcohol. Alcohol doses administered were sufficient for achieving a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of about 0.05,g/dl. Initial drinking preceded smoking by one hour. The City Driving Test commenced 15 minutes after smoking and lasted 45 minutes. The test was conducted over a fixed route within the city limits of Maastricht. An eye movement recording system was mounted on each subject's head for providing relative frequency measures of appropriate visual search at intersections. General driving quality was rated by a licensed driving instructor on a shortened version of the Royal Dutch Tourist Association's Driving Proficiency Test. After placebo treatment subjects searched for traffic approaching from side streets on the right in 84% of all cases. Visual search frequency in these subjects did not change when they were treated with alcohol or marijuana alone. However, when treated with the combination of alcohol and marijuana, the frequency of visual search dropped by 3%. Performance as rated on the Driving Proficiency Scale did not differ between treatments. It was concluded that the effects of low doses of THC (100,,g/kg) and alcohol (BAC,<,0.05,g/dl) on higher-level driving skills as measured in the present study are minimal. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Selective attention in anxiety: Distraction and enhancement in visual search

    DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 1 2003
    Mike Rinck
    Abstract According to cognitive models of anxiety, anxiety patients exhibit an attentional bias towards threat, manifested as greater distractibility by threat stimuli and enhanced detection of them. Both phenomena were studied in two experiments, using a modified visual search task, in which participants were asked to find single target words (GAD-related, speech-related, neutral, or positive) hidden in matrices made up of distractor words (also GAD-related, speech-related, neutral, or positive). Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients, social phobia (SP) patients afraid of giving speeches, and healthy controls participated in the visual search task. GAD patients were slowed by GAD-related distractor words but did not show statistically reliable evidence of enhanced detection of GAD-related target words. SP patients showed neither distraction nor enhancement effects. These results extend previous findings of attentional biases observed with other experimental paradigms. Depression and Anxiety 18:18,28, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


    Visual search in typically developing toddlers and toddlers with Fragile X or Williams syndrome

    DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2004
    Gaia Scerif
    Visual selective attention is the ability to attend to relevant visual information and ignore irrelevant stimuli. Little is known about its typical and atypical development in early childhood. Experiment 1 investigates typically developing toddlers' visual search for multiple targets on a touch-screen. Time to hit a target, distance between successively touched items, accuracy and error types revealed changes in 2- and 3-year-olds' vulnerability to manipulations of the search display. Experiment 2 examined search performance by toddlers with Fragile X syndrome (FXS) or Williams syndrome (WS). Both of these groups produced equivalent mean time and distance per touch as typically developing toddlers matched by chronological or mental age; but both produced a larger number of errors. Toddlers with WS confused distractors with targets more than the other groups; while toddlers with FXS perseverated on previously found targets. These findings provide information on how visual search typically develops in toddlers, and reveal distinct search deficits for atypically developing toddlers. [source]


    Visual deficits in developmental dyslexia: relationships between non-linguistic visual tasks and their contribution to components of reading

    DYSLEXIA, Issue 2 2008
    Manon W. Jones
    Abstract Developmental dyslexia is often characterized by a visual deficit, but the nature of this impairment and how it relates to reading ability is disputed (Brain 2003; 126: 841,865). In order to investigate this issue, we compared groups of adults with and without dyslexia on the Ternus, visual-search and symbols tasks. Dyslexic readers yielded more errors on the visual-search and symbols tasks compared with non-dyslexic readers. A positive correlation between visual-search and symbols task performance suggests a common mechanism shared by these tasks. Performance on the visual-search and symbols tasks also correlated with non-word reading and rapid automatized naming measures, and visual search contributed independent variance to non-word reading. The Ternus task did not discriminate reading groups nor contributed significant variance to reading measures. We consider how visual-attention processes might underlie specific component reading measures. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Neuroanatomical correlates of the near response: voluntary modulation of accommodation/vergence in the human visual system

    EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 1 2000
    Hans O. Richter
    Abstract This study identifies brain regions participating in the execution of eye movements for voluntary positive accommodation (VPA) during open-loop vergence conditions. Neuronal activity was estimated by measurement of changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) with positron emission tomography and 15O-water. Thirteen naive volunteers viewed a checkerboard pattern with their dominant right eye, while a lens interrupted the line of gaze during alternate 1.5 s intervals. Three counterbalanced tasks required central fixation and viewing of a stationary checkerboard pattern: (i) through a 0.0 diopter (D) lens; (ii) through a ,5.0-D lens while avoiding volitional accommodation and permitting blur; and (iii) through a ,5.0-D lens while maintaining maximal focus. The latter required large-amplitude, high-frequency VPA. As an additional control, seven of the subjects viewed passively a digitally blurred checkerboard through a 0.0-D lens as above. Optometric measurements confirmed normal visual acuity and ability to perform the focusing task (VPA). Large-amplitude saccadic eye movements, verified absent by electro-oculography, were inhibited by central fixation. Image averaging across subjects demonstrated multifocal changes in rCBF during VPA: striate and extrastriate visual cortices; superior temporal cortices; and cerebellar cortex and vermis. Decreases in rCBF occurred in the lateral intraparietal area, prefrontal and frontal and/or supplementary eye fields. Analysis of regions of interest in the visual cortex showed systematic and appropriate task dependence of rCBF. Activations may reflect sensorimotor processing along the reflex arc of the accommodation system, while deactivations may indicate inhibition of systems participating in visual search. [source]


    Brain,behavior correlation in children depends on the neurocognitive network

    HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 2 2004
    James R. Booth
    We examined brain,behavior correlations in 12 children (age range 9.3 to 11.7 years) during a selective attention task that required the visual search of a conjunction of features and during a response inhibition task that required the inhibition of a pre-potent response during "no-go" blocks. We found that the association between performance in these tasks and brain activation as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) depended on the neurocognitive network. Specifically, better performance during the no-go task was associated with greater activation in the response inhibition network including the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia. In contrast, better performance during the visual search task was associated with less activation in the selective attention network including superior parietal lobule and lateral premotor cortex. These results show that the relation of performance to the magnitude of neural activation is complex and may display differential relationships based on the cognitive domain, anatomical region, and perhaps also developmental stage. Hum Brain Mapping 23:99,108, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


    Evaluation of a job-aiding tool in inspection systems

    HUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS IN MANUFACTURING & SERVICE INDUSTRIES, Issue 1 2008
    Edem Tetteh
    Visual inspection plays a very important role in ensuring quality in the manufacturing and service industries. Two determinants of inspection performance are visual search and decision-making. Improvement in any one of the components will have an impact on system performance. Job-aids, accompanied by training, have proven to be effective in enhancing accuracy and reducing search time in visual inspection systems. This article aims to investigate the effects of search strategy along with task complexity and pacing on inspection performance using a job-aiding tool. To facilitate the experiments, an enhanced job-aiding tool in a simulated visual inspection environment was developed. This tool enables an inspector to track his or her search path in visual inspection systems. A pilot study and two experiments were conducted using this tool. The pilot study examined the effectiveness of the job-aiding tool. The first experiment studied the effect of search strategy and task complexity on inspection system performance and the second experiment studied the impact of search strategy, task complexity, and pacing on system performance. Results from this research can be used to better design an inspection system. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


    Visual search and urban driving under the influence of marijuana and alcohol

    HUMAN PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY: CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL, Issue 5 2001
    C. T. J. Lamers
    Abstract The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of low doses of marijuana and alcohol, and their combination, on visual search at intersections and on general driving proficiency in the City Driving Test. Sixteen recreational users of alcohol and marijuana (eight males and eight females) were treated with these substances or placebo according to a balanced, 4-way, cross-over, observer- and subject-blind design. On separate evenings, subjects received weight-calibrated doses of THC, alcohol or placebo in each of the following treatment conditions: alcohol placebo + THC placebo, alcohol + THC placebo, THC 100,,g/kg + alcohol placebo, THC 100,,g/kg + alcohol. Alcohol doses administered were sufficient for achieving a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of about 0.05,g/dl. Initial drinking preceded smoking by one hour. The City Driving Test commenced 15 minutes after smoking and lasted 45 minutes. The test was conducted over a fixed route within the city limits of Maastricht. An eye movement recording system was mounted on each subject's head for providing relative frequency measures of appropriate visual search at intersections. General driving quality was rated by a licensed driving instructor on a shortened version of the Royal Dutch Tourist Association's Driving Proficiency Test. After placebo treatment subjects searched for traffic approaching from side streets on the right in 84% of all cases. Visual search frequency in these subjects did not change when they were treated with alcohol or marijuana alone. However, when treated with the combination of alcohol and marijuana, the frequency of visual search dropped by 3%. Performance as rated on the Driving Proficiency Scale did not differ between treatments. It was concluded that the effects of low doses of THC (100,,g/kg) and alcohol (BAC,<,0.05,g/dl) on higher-level driving skills as measured in the present study are minimal. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Effect of spatial inhibition on saccade trajectory depends on location-based mechanisms

    JAPANESE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2009
    HIROYUKI SOGO
    Abstract:, Saccade trajectory often curves away from a previously attended, inhibited location. A recent study of curved saccades showed that an inhibitory effect prevents ineffective reexamination during serial visual search. The time course of this effect differs from that of a similar inhibitory effect, known as inhibition of return (IOR). In the present study, we examined whether this saccade-related inhibitory effect can operate in an object-based manner (similar to IOR). Using a spatial cueing paradigm, we demonstrated that if a cue is presented on a placeholder that is then shifted from its original location, the saccade trajectory curves away from the original (cued) location (Experiment 1), yet the IOR effect is observed on the cued placeholder (Experiment 2). The inhibitory mechanism that causes curved saccades appears to operate in a location-based manner, whereas the mechanism underlying IOR appears to operate in an object-based manner. We propose that these inhibitory mechanisms work in a complementary fashion to guide eye movements efficiently under conditions of a dynamic visual environment. [source]


    Visual Learning and the Brain: Implications for Dyslexia

    MIND, BRAIN, AND EDUCATION, Issue 3 2007
    Matthew H. Schneps
    ABSTRACT, The central and peripheral visual fields are structurally segregated in the brain and are differentiated by their anatomical and functional characteristics. While the central field appears well suited for tasks such as visual search, the periphery is optimized for rapid processing over broad regions. People vary in their abilities to make use of information in the center versus the periphery, and we propose that this bias leads to a trade-off between abilities for sequential search versus contemporaneous comparisons. The parameter of periphery-to-center ratio (PCR) describes the degree of peripheral bias, which evidence suggests is high in many people with dyslexia. That is, many dyslexics favor the peripheral visual field over the center, which results in not only search deficits but also (more surprisingly) talents for visual comparison. The PCR framework offers a coherent explanation for these seemingly contradictory observations of both deficit and talent in visual processing. The framework has potential implications for instructional support in visually intensive domains such as science and mathematics. [source]


    The dynamics of cardiac defense: From attention to action

    PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 5 2010
    Isabel Ramírez
    Abstract The attentional and motivational significance of cardiac defense is examined in two studies. In Study 1, cardiac defense was evoked by an intense acoustic stimulus in the context of either a visual search or a memory search task using letters as stimuli. Results showed a potentiation of the long latency acceleration of cardiac defense in the visual search task. In Study 2, participants performed the same visual search task using pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures as stimuli. Results showed a further potentiation of the long latency acceleration of cardiac defense when the visual search task was performed with unpleasant, compared to pleasant or neutral pictures. These results indicate that cardiac defense has both attentional and motivational contributions, where the attentional significance is related to increased sensory processing, whereas the motivational significance is associated with preparation for active defense. [source]


    Masked targets trigger event-related potentials indexing shifts of attention but not error detection

    PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 3 2010
    Geoffrey F. Woodman
    Abstract To carry out tasks with the highest possible efficiency we have developed executive mechanisms that monitor task performance and optimize cognitive processing. It has been hypothesized that these executive mechanisms operate even without conscious awareness to maximize their sensitivity to task-relevant outcomes. To test this hypothesis the present study examined the error-related negativity (ERN), an electrophysiological index of the performance-monitoring neural circuitry, during masked visual search. The findings show that representations of target objects that are processed perceptually, but not to the level of awareness, fail to elicit an ERN despite the ability of these targets to elicit a shift of attention. These findings indicate that the performance-monitoring mechanism indexed by the ERN requires target information to be processed to the level of awareness for a mismatch between stimulus and response to be detected. [source]


    Does focused endogenous attention prevent attentional capture in pop-out visual search?

    PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 4 2009
    Ellen Seiss
    Abstract To investigate whether salient visual singletons capture attention when they appear outside the current endogenous attentional focus, we measured the N2pc component as a marker of attentional capture in a visual search task where target or nontarget singletons were presented at locations previously cued as task-relevant, or in the uncued irrelevant hemifield. In two experiments, targets were either defined by color or by a combination of color and shape. The N2pc was elicited both for attended singletons and for singletons on the uncued side, demonstrating that focused endogenous attention cannot prevent attentional capture by salient unattended visual events. However, N2pc amplitudes were larger for attended and unattended singletons that shared features with the current target, suggesting that top-down task sets modulate the capacity of visual singletons to capture attention both within and outside the current attentional focus. [source]


    Brain electrical correlates of dimensional weighting: An ERP study

    PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 2 2007
    Klaus Gramann
    Abstract In visual search, there is a reaction time (RT) cost for targets on a given trial if the previous target was defined in a different dimension. According to the "dimension-weighting" account (Müller, Heller, & Ziegler, 1995), limited attentional weight needs to be shifted to the new dimension, resulting in slower RTs. The present study aimed at identifying brain electrical correlates associated with the weight shift. Analyses of ERPs revealed several components to reflect dimension changes whether the task was to detect the target or to identify its defining dimension. N2 amplitudes were more negative whenever the dimension changed. The P3 exhibited latency differences that mirrored RTs in both tasks, but the amplitudes showed no direct relation to stimulus- or response-related processes. Finally, slow-wave amplitudes were enhanced for dimension changes. Taken together, the results provide support for relatively early, perceptual processes underlying dimension change costs. [source]


    Looking for faces: Attention modulates early occipitotemporal object processing

    PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 3 2004
    Andreas Lueschow
    Abstract Looking for somebody's face in a crowd is one of the most important examples of visual search. For this goal, attention has to be directed to a well-defined perceptual category. When this categorically selective process starts is, however, still unknown. To this end, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) recorded over right human occipitotemporal cortex to investigate the time course of attentional modulation of perceptual processes elicited by faces and by houses. The first face-distinctive MEG response was observed at 160,170 ms (M170). Nevertheless, attention did not start to modulate face processing before 190 ms. The first house-distinctive MEG activity was also found around 160,170 ms. However, house processing was not modulated by attention before 280 ms (90 ms later than face processing). Further analysis revealed that the attentional modulation of face processing is not due to later, for example, back-propagated activation of the M170 generator. Rather, subsequent stages of occipitotemporal object processing were modulated in a category-specific manner and with preferential access to face processing. [source]


    Reduced change blindness suggests enhanced attention to detail in individuals with autism

    THE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 3 2009
    Hayley Smith
    Background:, The phenomenon of change blindness illustrates that a limited number of items within the visual scene are attended to at any one time. It has been suggested that individuals with autism focus attention on less contextually relevant aspects of the visual scene, show superior perceptual discrimination and notice details which are often ignored by typical observers. Methods:, In this study we investigated change blindness in autism by asking participants to detect continuity errors deliberately introduced into a short film. Whether the continuity errors involved central/marginal or social/non-social aspects of the visual scene was varied. Thirty adolescent participants, 15 with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and 15 typically developing (TD) controls participated. Results:, The participants with ASD detected significantly more errors than the TD participants. Both groups identified more errors involving central rather than marginal aspects of the scene, although this effect was larger in the TD participants. There was no difference in the number of social or non-social errors detected by either group of participants. Conclusion:, In line with previous data suggesting an abnormally broad attentional spotlight and enhanced perceptual function in individuals with ASD, the results of this study suggest enhanced awareness of the visual scene in ASD. The results of this study could reflect superior top-down control of visual search in autism, enhanced perceptual function, or inefficient filtering of visual information in ASD. [source]


    The influence of children's self-report trait anxiety and depression on visual search for emotional faces

    THE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 3 2003
    Julie A. Hadwin
    Background: This study presents two experiments that investigated the relationship between7- and 10-year-olds' levels of self-report trait anxiety and depression and their visual search for threatening (angry faces) and non-threatening (happy and neutral faces) stimuli. Method: In both experiments a visual search paradigm was used to measure participants' reaction times to detect the presence or absence of angry, happy or neutral schematic faces (Experiment 1) or cartoon drawings (Experiment 2). On target present trials, a target face was displayed alongside three, five or seven distractor items. On target absent trials all items were distractors. Results: Both experiments demonstrated that on target absent (but not present) trials, increased levels of anxiety produced significantly faster search times in the angry face condition, but not in the neutral condition. In Experiment 2 there was some trend towards significance between anxiety and searches for happy faces in absent trials. There were no effects of depression on search times in any condition. Conclusion: The results support previous work highlighting a specific link between anxiety and attention to threat in childhood. [source]


    Impaired visual search in drivers with Parkinson's disease

    ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 4 2006
    Ergun Y. Uc MD
    Objective To assess the ability for visual search and recognition of roadside targets and safety errors during a landmark and traffic sign identification task in drivers with Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods Seventy-nine drivers with PD and 151neurologically normal older adults underwent a battery of visual, cognitive, and motor tests. The drivers were asked to report sightings of specific landmarks and traffic signs along a four-lane commercial strip during an experimental drive in an instrumented vehicle. Results The drivers with PD identified significantly fewer landmarks and traffic signs, and they committed more at-fault safety errors during the task than control subjects, even after adjusting for baseline errors. Within the PD group, the most important predictors of landmark and traffic sign identification rate were performances on Useful Field of View (visual speed of processing and attention) and Complex Figure Test-Copy (visuospatial abilities). Trail Making Test (B-A), a measure of cognitive flexibility independent of motor function, was the only independent predictor of at-fault safety errors in drivers with PD. Interpretation The cognitive and visual deficits associated with PD resulted in impaired visual search while driving, and the increased cognitive load during this task worsened their driving safety. Ann Neurol 2006 [source]