Abstract
Many aspects of our everyday behaviour require that we search for objects.
However, in real situations search is often conducted while internal and external
factors compete for our attention resources.
Cognitive distraction interferes with our ability to search for targets, increasing
search times. Here we consider whether effects of cognitive distraction interfere
differentially with three distinct phases of search: initiating search, overtly
scanning through items in the display, and verifying that the object is indeed the
target of search once it has been fixated.
Furthermore, we consider whether strategic components of visual search that
emerge when searching items organized into structured arrays are susceptible to
cognitive distraction or not. We used Gilchrist & Harvey’s (2006) structured and
unstructured visual search paradigm with the addition of Savage, Potter &
Tatler’s (2013) secondary puzzle task.
Cognitive load influenced two phases of search: 1) scanning times and 2)
verification times. Under high load, fixation durations were longer and refixations of distracters were more common. In terms of scanning strategy, we
replicated Gilchrist & Harvey’s (2006) findings of more systematic search for
structured arrays than unstructured ones. We also found an effect of cognitive
load on this aspect of search but only in structured arrays. Our findings suggest
that our eyes, by default, produce an autonomous scanning pattern that is
modulated but not completely eliminated by secondary cognitive load.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 37-46 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Vision Research |
Volume | 153 |
Early online date | 10 Oct 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2018 |
Keywords
- visual search
- cognitive control and automaticity
- eye movements and visual attention