TY - JOUR
T1 - Attentional guidance varies with display density
AU - Van de Weijgert, Marlies
AU - Van der Burg, Erik
AU - Donk, Mieke
PY - 2019/11/1
Y1 - 2019/11/1
N2 - The aim of the present study was to investigate how display density affects attentional guidance in heterogeneous search displays. In Experiment 1 we presented observers with heterogeneous sparse and dense search displays which were adaptively changed over the course of the experiment using genetic algorithms. We generated random displays, and based upon fastest search times, the displays that allowed most efficient search were selected to generate new displays for the next generations, thus revealing which properties facilitated or inhibited target search across display densities. The results showed that the prevalence of distractors sharing the target color was substantially reduced over generations in sparse displays. Dense displays also evolved to contain less distractors sharing the target color but only when the orientation of the distractors resembled the target orientation. More importantly, spatial analyses revealed that changes across generations occurred across all areas in sparse displays but were confined to occur around the target location only in dense displays. In Experiment 2, in which we used a factorial design, we showed that the presence of potentially interfering distractors in the target area affected search in dense displays but not in sparse displays. Together the results suggest that the role of salience-driven attentional guidance is larger in dense than sparse displays even in the absence of display homogeneity.
AB - The aim of the present study was to investigate how display density affects attentional guidance in heterogeneous search displays. In Experiment 1 we presented observers with heterogeneous sparse and dense search displays which were adaptively changed over the course of the experiment using genetic algorithms. We generated random displays, and based upon fastest search times, the displays that allowed most efficient search were selected to generate new displays for the next generations, thus revealing which properties facilitated or inhibited target search across display densities. The results showed that the prevalence of distractors sharing the target color was substantially reduced over generations in sparse displays. Dense displays also evolved to contain less distractors sharing the target color but only when the orientation of the distractors resembled the target orientation. More importantly, spatial analyses revealed that changes across generations occurred across all areas in sparse displays but were confined to occur around the target location only in dense displays. In Experiment 2, in which we used a factorial design, we showed that the presence of potentially interfering distractors in the target area affected search in dense displays but not in sparse displays. Together the results suggest that the role of salience-driven attentional guidance is larger in dense than sparse displays even in the absence of display homogeneity.
KW - Attentional guidance
KW - Display density
KW - Features
KW - Salience
KW - Visual search
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071728581&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85071728581&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.visres.2019.08.001
DO - 10.1016/j.visres.2019.08.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 31401217
AN - SCOPUS:85071728581
SN - 0042-6989
VL - 164
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Vision research
JF - Vision research
ER -