Incidental Learning Speeds Visual Search by Lowering Response Thresholds, Not by Improving Efficiency: Evidence from Eye Movements

Autor/inn/en	Hout, Michael C.; Goldinger, Stephen D.
Titel	Incidental Learning Speeds Visual Search by Lowering Response Thresholds, Not by Improving Efficiency: Evidence from Eye Movements
Quelle	In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 38 (2012) 1, S.90-112 (23 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0096-1523
DOI	10.1037/a0023894
Schlagwörter	Eye Movements; Incidental Learning; Search Strategies; Human Body; Short Term Memory; Experiments; Cues; Visual Perception; Visual Stimuli; Reaction Time + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Augenbewegung; Inzidentelles Lernen; Suchstrategie; Menschlicher Körper; Kurzzeitgedächtnis; Erprobung; Stichwort; Visuelle Wahrnehmung; Reaktionsvermögen
Abstract	When observers search for a target object, they incidentally learn the identities and locations of "background" objects in the same display. This learning can facilitate search performance, eliciting faster reaction times for repeated displays. Despite these findings, visual search has been successfully modeled using architectures that maintain no history of attentional deployments; they are amnesic (e.g., "Guided Search Theory"). In the current study, we asked two questions: 1) under what conditions does such incidental learning occur? And 2) what does viewing behavior reveal about the efficiency of attentional deployments over time? In two experiments, we tracked eye movements during repeated visual search, and we tested incidental memory for repeated nontarget objects. Across conditions, the consistency of search sets and spatial layouts were manipulated to assess their respective contributions to learning. Using viewing behavior, we contrasted three potential accounts for faster searching with experience. The results indicate that learning does not result in faster object identification or greater search efficiency. Instead, familiar search arrays appear to allow faster resolution of search decisions, whether targets are present or absent. (Contains 11 figures, 3 tables and 4 footnotes.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10