Taking stock: The role of environmental appraisal in the strategic use of attentional control
Taking stock: The role of environmental appraisal in the strategic use of attentional control
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DOI：
10.3758/s13414-019-01769-6
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发表时间：
2019-11-01
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
Leber, Andrew B.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hansen, Heather A.;Irons, Jessica L.;Leber, Andrew B.
在执行视觉搜索任务时，我们可以使用许多策略来控制注意力，但有些策略比其他策略更有效。我们如何选择最优策略？我们建议个人必须评估刺激环境，吸收有关任务相关特征的相关统计信息。在目前的实验中，我们研究了通过次要任务干扰评估过程是否会减少参与者对最佳策略的使用。我们使用了自适应选择视觉搜索范例的修改版本，个人可以在每次试验中自由搜索两个目标中的任何一个。每次搜索显示之前都会有一个彩色环境预览，让参与者有时间评估显示并确定哪个目标更适合搜索。在某些区块上，参与者还完成了第二项任务 - 中心线长度判断 - 在彩色预览之前或期间。我们发现，当线任务在彩色预览期间发生时，参与者进行最佳搜索的可能性明显低于线任务提前发生或不存在时。就次要任务破坏个人参与评估的能力而言，这些结果支持在注意力控制设置的最佳选择中需要这种评估机制。
There are many strategies we can use to control attention when approaching a visual search task, but some are more effective than others. How do we choose the most optimal strategy? We have proposed that individuals must appraise the stimulus environment, taking in relevant statistical information about task-relevant features. In the present experiments, we examined whether interfering with the appraisal process via a secondary task decreases participants' use of the optimal strategy. We used a modified version of the Adaptive Choice Visual Search paradigm whereby individuals can freely search for either of two targets on every trial. Each search display was preceded by a colored environmental preview, offering participants time to appraise the display and determine which target would be more optimal to search for. On some blocks, participants also completed a secondary task - a central line-length judgment - either before or during this colored preview. We found that participants were significantly less likely to search optimally when the line task occurred during the colored preview than when it occurred beforehand or was absent. Insofar as the secondary task disrupts an individual's ability to engage in appraisal, these results support the need for such an appraisal mechanism in the optimal choice of attentional control settings.