Saccadic selection and crowding in visual search: stronger lateral masking leads to shorter search times

We investigated the role of crowding in saccadic selection during visual search. To guide eye movements, often information from the visual periphery is used. Crowding is known to deteriorate the quality of peripheral information. In four search experiments, we studied the role of crowding, by accompanying individual search elements by flankers. Varying the difference between target and flankers allowed us to manipulate crowding strength throughout the stimulus. We found that eye movements are biased toward areas with little crowding for conditions where a target could be discriminated peripherally. Interestingly, for conditions in which the target could not be discriminated peripherally, this bias reversed to areas with strong crowding. This led to shorter search times for a target presented in areas with stronger crowding, compared to a target presented in areas with less crowding. These findings suggest a dual role for crowding in visual search. The presence of flankers similar to the target deteriorates the quality of the peripheral target signal but can also attract eye movements, as more potential targets are present over the area.