Emphasizing responder speed or accuracy modulates but does not abolish the distractor-induced quitting effect in...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Visual Perception
• Human Factors

Background:

• Salient distractors in visual search arrays can lower quitting thresholds, leading to errors in target detection.
• This distractor-generated quitting threshold effect (QTE) poses risks in critical real-world search tasks like baggage screening.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if emphasizing response speed or accuracy can eliminate the distractor-generated quitting threshold effect (QTE).
• To determine if explicit instructions and feedback can mitigate the impact of distractors on visual search performance.

Main Methods:

• A target detection visual search task was conducted with three blocks: no feedback, speed emphasis, and accuracy emphasis.
• A highly salient distractor was present on 50% of trials in each block.
• Participants received trial-by-trial feedback tailored to the block's emphasis (speed or accuracy).

Main Results:

• The distractor consistently lowered quitting thresholds across all conditions, regardless of feedback emphasis.
• Emphasizing response accuracy significantly reduced the distractor's impact on target misses compared to speed emphasis or no feedback.
• The distractor-generated quitting threshold effect (QTE) was not eradicated but was demonstrably shifted by accuracy-focused instructions.

Conclusions:

• Explicit instructions and feedback emphasizing speed or accuracy do not fully eliminate the distractor-generated quitting threshold effect (QTE).
• However, emphasizing response accuracy can mitigate the negative impact of distractors on target detection accuracy.
• Further research is needed to explore the practical application of these findings in real-world search scenarios.