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How important is lateral masking in visual search?

A H Wertheim¹, I T C Hooge, K Krikke

¹Department of Psychonomics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 Utrecht, The Netherlands. a.wertheim@fss.uu.nl

Experimental Brain Research

|December 6, 2005

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Lateral masking, a sensory phenomenon, explains visual search effects previously attributed to cognitive attention. Experiments demonstrate its significant role in visual search performance and asymmetry.

Area of Science:

Visual perception
Cognitive psychology
Sensory neuroscience

Background:

Visual search phenomena are often explained by cognitive attentional mechanisms.
Lateral masking is a sensory phenomenon that can influence visual perception.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether lateral masking can explain visual search phenomena.
To differentiate between sensory and cognitive explanations for visual search.

Main Methods:

Five experiments comparing visual search tasks with lateral masking measurements.
Manipulation of factors like distractor number, density, search type, and array asymmetry.
Analysis of search times, lateral masking scores, eye movements, and error rates.

Main Results:

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Factors affecting visual search times also affected lateral masking scores.
Reduced distractor density decreased the disjunction-conjunction difference and asymmetry.
Lateral masking scores mirrored the asymmetry observed in visual search.
Findings were not explained by differences in attentional grain size.

Conclusions:

The sensory mechanism of lateral masking is a significant factor in visual search.
Many visual search effects traditionally attributed to cognitive attention may be sensory in origin.
Lateral masking offers a parsimonious explanation for established visual search phenomena.