Abstract
Three experiments investigated the role of eye movements in the rapid resumption of an interrupted search. Passive monitoring of eye position in Experiment 1 showed that rapid resumption was associated with a short distance between the eye and the target on the next-to-last look before target detection. Experiments 2 and 3 used two different methods for presenting the target to the point of eye fixation on some trials. If eye position alone is predictive, rapid resumption should increase when the target is near fixation. The results showed that gaze-contingent targets increased overall search success, but that the proportion of rapid responses decreased dramatically. We conclude that rather than depending on a high-quality single look at a search target, rapid resumption of search depends on two glances; a first glance in which a hypothesis is formed, and a second glance in which the hypothesis is confirmed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Awh, E., &Jonides, J. (2001). Overlapping mechanisms of attention and spatial working memory.Trends in Cognitive Science,5, 119–126.
Awh, E., Jonides, J., &Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (1998). Rehearsal in spatial working memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,24, 780–790.
Awh, E., Sgarlata, A. M., &Kliestik, J. (2005). Resolving visual interference during covert spatial orienting: online attentional control through static records of prior visual experience.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,134, 192–206.
Beck, M. R., Peterson, M. S., &Vomela, M. (2006). Memory for where, but not what, is used during visual search.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,32, 235–250.
Brockmole, J. R., &Henderson, J. M. (2006). Recognition and attention guidance during contextual cueing in real-world scenes: Evidence from eye movements.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,59, 1177–1187.
Brockmole, J. R., &Irwin, D. E. (2005). Eye movements and the integration of visual memory and visual perception.Perception & Psychophysics,67, 495–512.
Chun, M. M., &Jiang, Y. (1998). Contextual cueing: Implicit learning and memory of visual context guides spatial attention.Cognitive Psychology,36, 28–71.
Chun, M. M., &Jiang, Y. (2003). Implicit, long-term spatial contextual memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,29, 224–234.
Chun, M. M., &Nakayama, K. (2000). On the functional role of implicit visual memory for the adaptive deployment of attention across scenes.Visual Cognition,7, 65–81.
Deubel, H., &Schneider, W. X. (1996). Saccade target selection and object recognition: Evidence for a common attentional mechanism.Vision Research,36, 1827–1837.
Dickinson, C. A., &Zelinsky, G. J. (2005). Marking rejected distractors: A gaze-contingent technique for measuring memory during search.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,12, 1120–1126.
Downing, P. E. (2000). Interactions between visual working memory and selective attention.Psychological Science,11, 467–473.
Fencsik, D. E., Horowitz, T. S., Flusberg, S. J., & Wolfe, J. M. (2006, May).Change detection has no foresight: Measuring advanced knowledge of changes across displays. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, Florida.
Hale, S., Myerson, J., Rhee, S. H., Weiss, C. S., &Abrams, R. A. (1996). Selective interference with the maintenance of location information in working memory.Neuropsychology,10, 228–240.
Henderson, J. M., &Hollingworth, A. (2003). Eye movements and visual memory: Detecting changes to saccade targets in scenes.Perception & Psychophysics,65, 58–71.
Hoffman, J. E., &Subramaniam, B. (1995). The role of visual attention in saccadic eye movements.Perception & Psychophysics,37, 787–795.
Hollingworth, A., &Henderson, J. M. (2002). Accurate visual memory for previously attended objects in natural scenes.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,28, 113–136.
Horowitz, T. S., &Wolfe, J. M. (1998). Visual search has no memory.Nature,394, 575–577.
Horowitz, T. S., &Wolfe, J. M. (2001). Search for multiple targets: Remember the targets, forget the search.Perception & Psychophysics,63, 272–285.
Houtkamp, R., &Roelfsema, P. R. (2006). The effect of items in working memory on the deployment of attention and the eyes during visual search.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,32, 423–442.
Irwin, D. E., &Gordon, R. D. (1998). Eye movements, attention, and trans-saccadic memory.Visual Cognition,5, 127–155.
Jiang, Y., Song, J. H., &Rigas, A. (2005). High-capacity spatial contextual memory.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,12, 524–529.
Klein, R. M., &MacInnes, W. J. (1999). Inhibition of return is a foraging facilitator in visual search.Psychological Science,10, 346–352.
Kowler, E., Anderson, E., Dosher, B., &Blaser, E. (1995). The role of attention in the programming of saccades.Vision Research,35, 1897–1916.
Kristjansson, A. (2000). In search of remembrance: Evidence for memory in visual search.Psychological Science,11, 328–332.
Lawrence, B. M., Myerson, J., &Abrams, R. A. (2004). Interference with spatial working memory: An eye movement is more than a shift of attention.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,11, 488–494.
Lawrence, B. M., Myerson, J., Oonk, H. M., &Abrams, R. A. (2001). The effects of eye and limb movements on working memory.Memory,9, 433–444.
Lleras, A., Rensink, R. A., &Enns, J. T. (2005). Rapid resumption of interrupted visual search: New insights on the interaction between vision and memory.Psychological Science,16, 684–688.
Lleras, A., Rensink, R. A., &Enns, J. T. (2007). Consequences of display changes during interrupted visual search: Rapid resumption is target specific.Perception & Psychophysics,69, 980–993.
McCarley, J. S., Wang, R. X. F., Kramer, A. F., Irwin, D. E., &Peterson, M. S. (2003). How much memory does oculomotor search have?Psychological Science,14, 422–426.
McPeek, R. M., Maljkovic, V., &Nakayama, K. (1999). Saccades require focal attention and are facilitated by a short-term memory system.Vision Research,39, 1555–1566.
Norman, D. A. (1968). Toward a theory of memory and attention.Psychological Review,75, 522–536.
Oh, S. H., &Kim, M. S. (2004). The role of spatial working memory in visual search efficiency.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,11, 275–281.
Olivers, C. N. L., Meijer, F., &Theeuwes, J. (2006). Feature-based memory-driven attentional capture: Visual working memory content affects visual attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,32, 1243–1265.
Pearson, D., &Sahraie, A. (2003). Oculomotor control and the maintenance of spatially and temporally distributed events in visuo-spatial working memory.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,56, 1089–1111.
Peterson, M. S., Kramer, A. F., Wang, R. F., Irwin, D. E., &McCarley, J. S. (2001). Visual search has memory.Psychological Science,12, 287–292.
Postle, B. R., Idzikowski, C., Sala, S. D., Logie, R. H., &Baddeley, A. D. (2006). The selective disruption of spatial working memory by eye movements.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,59, 100–120.
Schneider, W. X., &Deubel, H. (1995). Visual attention and saccadic eye movements: Evidence for obligatory and selective spatial coupling. In J. M. Findlay, R. Walker, & R. W. Kentridge (Eds.),Eye movement research: Mechanism, processes, and applications (pp. 317–324). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Shepherd, M., Findley, J. M., &Hockey, R. J. (1986). The relationship between eye movements and spatial attention.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,38, 475–491.
Theeuwes, J., Olivers, C. N. L., &Chizk, C. L. (2005). Remembering a location makes the eyes curve away.Psychological Science,16, 196–199.
von Mühlenen, A., Müller, H. J., &Müller, D. (2003). Sit-andwait strategies in dynamic visual search.Psychological Science,14, 309–314.
Wolfe, J. M., Horowitz, T. S., Fencsik, D. E., &Flusberg, S. J. (2006). Visual search has no foresight.Journal of Vision,6, 788–788.
Woodman, G. F., Vogel, E. K., &Luck, S. J. (2001). Visual search remains efficient when visual working memory is full.Psychological Science,12, 219–224.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by a Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research postdoctoral grant (NWO Talent) to W.v.Z., NSF Grant 0527361 to A.L., NSERC and SSHRC grants to A.K., and an NSERC discovery research grant to J.T.E.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Van Zoest, W., Lleras, A., Kingstone, A. et al. In sight, out of mind: The role of eye movements in the rapid resumption of visual search. Perception & Psychophysics 69, 1204–1217 (2007). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193956
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193956