Contextual cueing in 3D visual search depends on representations in planar-, not depth-defined space

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Visual Perception
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Contextual cueing accelerates visual search by leveraging learned spatial regularities.
• Previous research primarily explored contextual cueing in 2D environments.
• The influence of 3D depth on contextual learning remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how 3D depth affects contextual learning in visual search.
• To determine whether spatial associations are learned based on 2D or 3D spatial information.
• To assess the robustness of contextual cueing when depth relationships are manipulated.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted using visual search tasks with stimuli presented in 3D space across front and back planes.
• Participants underwent training with consistent spatial configurations followed by test sessions with rearranged stimuli.
• Stimuli were swapped between depth planes (Experiment 1) or lateral positions (Experiment 2) to assess learning effects.

Main Results:

• Contextual cueing was efficiently learned and facilitated visual search under 3D viewing conditions.
• Contextual cueing remained robust after swapping depth planes (Experiment 1).
• Contextual cueing was significantly reduced when items were swapped between left and right sides (Experiment 2).

Conclusions:

• Contextual cueing in 3D environments primarily relies on 2D spatial associations, not depth information.
• Depth-defined spatial regularities are likely not encoded during contextual learning.
• Effective contextual guidance is limited by 2D inter-item associations, irrespective of depth variations.