Spatial structure triggers systematic foraging: Segmenting search displays leads to searching by segments

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Visual Perception
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Spatial structure typically guides attention in visual search and real-world tasks.
• The impact of task-irrelevant spatial structure on attention and search strategies remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how spatial structure affects attention and foraging behavior when it offers no predictive information about target locations.
• To assess the influence of spatial structure manipulations on search efficiency and spatial memory.

Main Methods:

• Six online experiments employed a visual foraging task with multiple target and distractor types.
• Spatial structure was manipulated by segmenting displays into distinct areas.
• Measures included foraging patterns, efficiency, and spatial memory across various display conditions.

Main Results:

• Task-irrelevant spatial structure consistently promoted systematic foraging, leading to continued search within display segments.
• This systematic foraging incurred costs to search efficiency but yielded benefits for spatial memory.
• The strength of visual spatial structure modulated its effect on foraging patterns and efficiency.

Conclusions:

• Spatial structure significantly influences foraging patterns and search strategies, irrespective of its informational value for target location.
• Understanding the impact of spatial structure is crucial for designing effective visual search interfaces and environments.