Easy does it: Selection during interactive search tasks is biased towards objects that can be examined easily

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Visual Perception

Background:

• Attentional selection is crucial for visual search, guiding focus to relevant items.
• Interactive search involves manipulating objects to find targets, extending traditional visual search.
• Understanding attentional drivers in interactive search is key to optimizing user experience and task efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the primary drivers of attentional selection during interactive visual search.
• To determine how object interaction effort and complexity affect attentional deployment.
• To explore the relationship between perceived difficulty and target detection in interactive search.

Main Methods:

• Conducted two interactive search experiments using virtual cubes with embedded T-shaped targets.
• Manipulated the physical effort required to rotate cubes in Experiment 1.
• Varied the number of shapes on cubes to alter interaction complexity in Experiment 2.

Main Results:

• Perceived effort in interacting with objects strongly influences attentional selection in interactive search.
• Increased difficulty in examining objects (e.g., higher rotation effort, more shapes) can lead to slower target detection.
• Findings suggest that cognitive load associated with interaction impacts visual attention deployment.

Conclusions:

• Perceived interaction effort is a significant factor in attentional selection during interactive search.
• Designers should consider minimizing interaction effort to improve search efficiency.
• This study provides foundational insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying interactive search behavior.