The Predation Game: Does dividing attention affect patterns of human foraging?

Area of Science:

• Cognitive psychology
• Behavioral ecology
• Human-computer interaction

Background:

• Attention is crucial for foraging behavior in humans and animals.
• Previous studies explored interactive foraging tasks, but not with simulated predation risk and divided attention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how divided attention and simulated predation risk affect human foraging behavior.
• To differentiate the impact of spatial disruption versus attentional costs on foraging decisions.

Main Methods:

• Developed an online foraging game with "sheep" icons for item collection and "wolf" objects for simulated threat.
• Participants navigated the game, needing to physically avoid wolves or respond to non-spatial threat cues.
• Compared foraging patterns (target switching, prioritization) under different threat conditions.

Main Results:

• Physical avoidance of moving "wolves" led to increased target switching and reduced prioritization of high-reward targets.
• Non-spatial threats (changing wolf appearance) did not significantly alter foraging patterns.
• Participants demonstrated efficient alternation between target selection and tracking moving objects.

Conclusions:

• Spatial disruption, rather than attentional reallocation cost, appears to be the primary factor influencing foraging under simulated predation risk.
• The study validates efficient dual-task performance in alternating between foraging and threat tracking.
• Future research should increase perceived risk to observe extended run behaviors seen in animal foraging models.