title: Targets Need Their Own Personal Space: Effects of Clutter on Multiple-Target Search Accuracy.
abstract: Visual search is an essential task for many lifesaving professions; airport security personnel search baggage X-ray images for dangerous items and radiologists examine radiographs for tumors. Accuracy is critical for such searches; however, there are potentially negative influences that can affect performance; for example, the displays can be cluttered and can contain multiple targets. Previous research has demonstrated that clutter can hurt search performance and a second target is less likely to be detected in a multiple-target search after a first target has been found, which raises a concern-how does clutter affect multiple-target search performance? The current study explored clutter in a multiple-target search paradigm, where there could be one or two targets present, and targets appeared in varying levels of clutter. There was a significant interaction between clutter and target number: Increasing levels of clutter did not affect single-target detection but did reduce detection of a second target. Multiple-target search accuracy is known to be sensitive to contextual influences, and the current results reveal a specific effect wherein clutter disproportionally affected multiple-target search accuracy. These results suggest that the detection and processing of a first target might enhance the masking effects of clutter around a second target.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, NC, USA stephen.adamo@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Stephen H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Adamo
authors.affiliation: U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Cain
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Mitroff
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D065855:Spatial Processing; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Visual search; clutter; subsequent search misses