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Decision processes in visual search as a function of target prevalence.

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Target prevalence significantly impacts visual search accuracy. Lower prevalence increases identification errors, suggesting a more conservative decision criterion, best explained by a drift diffusion model.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Visual Perception
  • Human Factors

Background:

  • Visual search tasks with low target prevalence lead to increased misses.
  • Two proposed causes: reduced quitting threshold and conservative decision criterion shifts.
  • Evidence supports prevalence affecting quitting thresholds, but not decision criteria shifts.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how target prevalence influences decision-making criteria in visual search.
  • To differentiate between selection errors and identification errors.
  • To evaluate the suitability of drift diffusion models versus signal detection theory.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1: Eye-tracking during visual search with varying target prevalence (high, medium, low).
  • Experiment 2: Replication using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stimuli.
  • Misses classified as selection or identification errors based on eye movement data.

Main Results:

  • Identification errors increased as target prevalence decreased.
  • Dwell time on targets increased, while dwell time on distractors decreased with lower prevalence.
  • Findings support a conservative shift in item-by-item decision criterion.

Conclusions:

  • Target prevalence influences the item-by-item decision criterion in visual search.
  • A drift diffusion model provides a better account of these findings than signal detection theory.
  • The study supports the role of a conservative decision criterion shift in low-prevalence search.