title: Understanding the contribution of target repetition and target expectation to the emergence of the prevalence effect in visual search.
abstract: Behavior in visual search tasks is influenced by the proportion of trials on which a target is presented (the target prevalence). Previous research has shown that when target prevalence is low (2 % prevalence), participants tend to miss targets, as compared with higher prevalence levels (e.g., 50 % prevalence). There is an ongoing debate regarding the relative contributions of target repetition and the expectation that a target will occur in the emergence of prevalence effects. In order to disentangle these two factors, we went beyond previous studies by directly manipulating participants' expectations regarding how likely a target was to appear on a given trial. This we achieved without using cues or feedback. Our results indicated that both target repetition and target expectation contribute to the emergence of the prevalence effect.
authors.affiliation: University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. hayward.godwin@soton.ac.uk.|School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, Hampshire, UK. hayward.godwin@soton.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Hayward J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Godwin
authors.affiliation: University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Tamaryn
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Menneer
authors.affiliation: University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Charlotte A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Riggs
authors.affiliation: University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Dominic
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Taunton
authors.affiliation: University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Kyle R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Cave
authors.affiliation: University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Donnel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D003463:Cues; D053483:Eye Movement Measurements; D005133:Eye Movements; D006801:Humans; D011336:Probability; D011930:Reaction Time; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Eye movement behavior; Target expectation; Target prevalence; Target repetition; Visual search