Region segmentation and contextual cuing in visual search.
Contextual information provides an important source for behavioral orienting. For instance, in the contextual-cuing paradigm, repetitions of the spatial layout of elements in a search display can guide attention to the target location. The present study explored how this contextual-cuing effect is influenced by the grouping of search elements. In Experiment 1, four nontarget items could be arranged collinearly to form an imaginary square. The presence of such a square eliminated the contextual-cuing effect, despite the fact that the square's location still had a predictive value for the target location. Three follow-up experiments demonstrated that other types of grouping abolished contextual cuing in a similar way and that the mere presence of a task-irrelevant singleton had only a diminishing effect (by half) on contextual cuing. These findings suggest that a segmented, salient region can interfere with contextual cuing, reducing its predictive impact on search.
Conci
Markus
M
Department Psychologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Leopoldstrasse 13, D-80802 München, Germany. conci@psy.uni-muenchen.de
von Mühlenen
Adrian
A
D000328:Adult; D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D003210:Concept Formation; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult