The influence of cognitive load on spatial search performance

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human Factors

Background:

• Executive functions, including attention, memory, and inhibition, are crucial for effective search.
• Large-scale search environments present unique challenges to these cognitive processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the roles of attention, spatial memory, and inhibition in large-scale visual search.
• To examine how perceptual salience and cognitive load affect these executive functions.

Main Methods:

• Participants searched a room with illuminated locations, with varying perceptual salience (flashing vs. static).
• Cognitive load was manipulated using concurrent memory and attention tasks.
• Performance was measured by search patterns and accuracy.

Main Results:

• Attention was captured by perceptually salient (flashing) locations, overriding explicit instructions.
• Spatial memory (inhibiting returns to visited locations) was preserved.
• Concurrent cognitive load tasks (digit span, auditory attention) impaired inhibition but not necessarily spatial memory.

Conclusions:

• Large-scale search is susceptible to attentional capture by salient distractors, demonstrating a failure of inhibition.
• Distinct executive subprocesses of memory and inhibition operate during large-scale search.
• Cognitive load theory extends to large-scale search, highlighting the impact of working memory load on distractor interference.