Target template and subsequent search misses: The underlying mechanism of multiple-target search errors.

该奖项是美国国家科学基金会社会、行为和经济科学（SBE）博士后研究奖学金（SPRF）项目和感知、行动和认知项目的一部分。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界、工业界或私营部门和政府的科学事业准备有前途的早期职业博士级科学家。SPRF奖励包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行为期两年的培训，并鼓励博士后进行独立研究。美国国家科学基金会寻求促进科学界各阶层的科学家，包括那些未被充分代表的群体的科学家，参与其研究项目和活动；博士后阶段被认为是实现这一目标的一个重要的专业发展阶段。每个博士后必须解决各自学科领域的重要科学问题。在中佛罗里达大学的约瑟夫·施密特博士和马克·尼德博士的赞助下，这个博士后奖学金奖支持早期职业科学家调查后续搜索失误（SSMs）。当观察者在他们的视觉环境中寻找多个目标时，ssm是视觉搜索中的一个陷阱。ssm被定义为在视觉搜索中检测到先前目标后额外目标准确性的降低，它是现实世界搜索错误（例如，如果先前检测到较大的肿瘤，放射科医生更有可能错过较小的肿瘤）和更简化的基于实验室的搜索错误（例如，如果先前检测到目标“L”，观察者更有可能错过目标“T”）的基础。不幸的是，在某些条件下，ssm可以解释三分之一的放射学错误，并且对其认知基础知之甚少。该项目将通过使用简化和模拟放射搜索显示来调查ssm的预期原因，以帮助将视觉认知领域的基础研究成果转化为放射学领域的癌症检测。因为ssm在放射学中是一个真正的威胁，更好地了解它们的原因和减轻它们的方法可以挽救生命。该项目将调查ssm的发生是否因为检测到的第一个目标被维护为目标模板（观察者正在搜索的内容的活动表示）。在视觉认知文献中，已知目标模板会使观察者偏向于寻找相似的目标，从而错过与目标模板不同的目标。如果检测到的目标被维持为目标模板，则可能发生ssm，因为目标检测所必需的关键认知过程正在将第一个目标作为目标模板处理，从而导致无法检测到其他目标。此外，目标模板可能会使观察者偏向于寻找与第一个目标相似的目标，从而使他们更有可能错过不相似的目标。通过使用脑电图（EEG）和眼动追踪，拟议的项目将研究与检测第一个目标相关的神经反应，确定维持第一个目标作为模板是否会导致ssm，并探索眼动对感知上相似和不相似的第二目标的影响。然后，拟议的项目将把这些发现扩展到放射学搜索显示，以确定放射科医生在乳房x光片（乳房组织的x射线图像）中搜索相似和不同癌症迹象时，是否在搜索性能和眼球运动方面也表现出类似的模式。最终，拟议的项目将连接视觉认知和放射学，以阐明ssm的潜在神经机制。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program and the Perception, Action, and Cognition program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, andgovernment. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Joseph Schmidt and Dr. Mark Neider at the University of Central Florida, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating subsequent search misses (SSMs). SSMs are a pitfall in visual search when observers look for multiple targets in their visual environment. Defined as a decrease in additional target accuracy after detecting a prior target in a visual search, SSMs underlie both real-world search errors (e.g., a radiologist is more likely to miss a smaller tumor if a larger tumor was previously detected) and more simplified, lab-based search errors (e.g., an observer is more likely to miss a target 'T' if a target 'L' was previously detected). Unfortunately, SSMs can account for one-third of radiological errors under certain conditions and little is known about its cognitive underpinnings. This project will investigate an expected cause of SSMs by using simplified and simulated radiological search displays in order to help translate the findings from basic research within visual cognition to cancer detection within radiology. Because SSMs are a real threat within radiology, a better understanding of their cause and ways to mitigate them can save lives.This project will investigate if SSMs occur because a detected, first target is maintained as a target template-an active representation of what the observer is searching for. Within the visual cognition literature, a target template is known to bias observers to find targets that are similar, and consequently, miss targets that are dissimilar to the target template. If a detected target is maintained as a target template, SSMs may occur because critical cognitive processes, necessary for target detection, are processing the first target as a target template, resulting in a failure to detect additional targets. Furthermore, the target template may bias observers to search for targets similar to a first target, consequently making them more likely to miss targets that are dissimilar. Through the use of electroencephalogram (EEG) and eye tracking, the proposed projects will investigate the neural responses associated with detecting a first target, determine if maintenance of a first target as a template causes SSMs, and explore how eye movements towards perceptually similar- and dissimilar-second targets are affected. The proposed projects will then extend these findings back to radiological search displays to determine whether radiologists also show a similar pattern in search performance and eye movements when searching for similar and dissimilar signs of cancer in mammograms (x-ray images of breast tissue). Ultimately, the proposed projects will bridge visual cognition and radiology to elucidate the underlying neural mechanism(s) of SSMs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.