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Adding depth to overlapping displays can improve visual search performance

Adding depth to overlapping displays can improve visual search performance
Adding depth to overlapping displays can improve visual search performance
Standard models of visual search have focused upon asking participants to search for a single target in displays where the objects do not overlap one another, and where the objects are presented on a single depth plane. This stands in contrast to many everyday visual searches wherein variations in overlap and depth are the norm, rather than the exception. Here, we addressed whether presenting overlapping objects on different depths planes to one another can improve search performance. Across four different experiments using different stimulus types (opaque polygons, transparent polygons, opaque real-world objects, and transparent X-ray images), we found that depth was primarily beneficial when the displays were transparent, and this benefit arose in terms of an increase in response accuracy. Although the benefit to search performance only appeared in some cases, across all stimulus types, we found evidence of marked shifts in eye-movement behavior. Our results have important implications for current models and theories of visual search, which have not yet provided detailed accounts of the effects that overlap and depth have on guidance and object identification processes. Moreover, our results show that the presence of depth information could aid real-world searches of complex, overlapping displays.
0096-1523
1532-1549
Godwin, Hayward J.
df22dc0c-01d1-440a-a369-a763801851e5
Menneer, Tamaryn
d684eaf6-1494-4004-9973-cb8ccc628efa
Liversedge, Simon P.
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Cave, Kyle R.
38f1020d-3cf6-4165-b462-4d9efd448790
Holliman, Nick S.
cd45f1b8-b0c2-44fd-a134-b442835a843c
Donnelly, Nick
05c83b6b-ee8d-4c9d-85dc-c5dcd6b5427b
Godwin, Hayward J.
df22dc0c-01d1-440a-a369-a763801851e5
Menneer, Tamaryn
d684eaf6-1494-4004-9973-cb8ccc628efa
Liversedge, Simon P.
3ebda3f3-d930-4f89-85d5-5654d8fe7dee
Cave, Kyle R.
38f1020d-3cf6-4165-b462-4d9efd448790
Holliman, Nick S.
cd45f1b8-b0c2-44fd-a134-b442835a843c
Donnelly, Nick
05c83b6b-ee8d-4c9d-85dc-c5dcd6b5427b

Godwin, Hayward J., Menneer, Tamaryn, Liversedge, Simon P., Cave, Kyle R., Holliman, Nick S. and Donnelly, Nick (2017) Adding depth to overlapping displays can improve visual search performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 43 (8), 1532-1549. (doi:10.1037/xhp0000353).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Standard models of visual search have focused upon asking participants to search for a single target in displays where the objects do not overlap one another, and where the objects are presented on a single depth plane. This stands in contrast to many everyday visual searches wherein variations in overlap and depth are the norm, rather than the exception. Here, we addressed whether presenting overlapping objects on different depths planes to one another can improve search performance. Across four different experiments using different stimulus types (opaque polygons, transparent polygons, opaque real-world objects, and transparent X-ray images), we found that depth was primarily beneficial when the displays were transparent, and this benefit arose in terms of an increase in response accuracy. Although the benefit to search performance only appeared in some cases, across all stimulus types, we found evidence of marked shifts in eye-movement behavior. Our results have important implications for current models and theories of visual search, which have not yet provided detailed accounts of the effects that overlap and depth have on guidance and object identification processes. Moreover, our results show that the presence of depth information could aid real-world searches of complex, overlapping displays.

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Depth In Search 2.docx - Accepted Manuscript
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Submitted date: 12 August 2016
Accepted/In Press date: 7 November 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 6 April 2017
Published date: August 2017
Additional Information: This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record
Organisations: Clinical Neuroscience

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 403259
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/403259
ISSN: 0096-1523
PURE UUID: d6d36a13-64df-40b2-8b69-4fd232d9e310
ORCID for Hayward J. Godwin: ORCID iD orcid.org/0009-0005-1232-500X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 29 Nov 2016 11:55
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:01

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Contributors

Author: Tamaryn Menneer
Author: Simon P. Liversedge
Author: Kyle R. Cave
Author: Nick S. Holliman
Author: Nick Donnelly

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