Perceptual organization in visual search: Context effects

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We spend nearly every waking moment searching with our eyes. Even a bored casual glance around a room is, at heart, an attempt to look for something. In modern life, visual search includes such important tasks as a doctor's inspection of medical X-ray images, a homeland security check of luggage for anomalies, or a pilot's quick glance across vital gauges on aircraft instrument panels. All living things capable of movement search incessantly, whether simple one-celled organisms or brainy hominids. In the laboratory, visual search has become a way to study the mind, whether as part of an intelligence test, a neurological exam, or in esoteric studies of attention, language, and social perception.Dr. Robert Rauschenberger and Dr. Mary A. Peterson will use support from the National Science Foundation to study a hitherto unrecognized fact about visual search: that the targets of search (the proverbial "needle in the haystack") can become more similar to their distractors (the "hay") as time goes on. That is, if you present the "needle and haystack" for a 'long' time (1/4 of a second), search is paradoxically more difficult than if you present the very same display for only a brief time (1/10 of a second). Common sense suggests the opposite outcome. The insights to be gained from this research have the potential to alter our understanding of a fundamental component of human behavior significantly. The broader impact of the project may include innovations in the design of modern instruments, increases in airport security, and better tests for medical problems. The funded project also includes an educational component to fund training for Dr. Rauschenberger in theory and methods of complex nonlinear systems.