Visual Memory Mechanisms in Transsaccadic Integration and Overt Search

视觉科学的一个基本问题是，当视觉信息通过一系列被频繁的快速眼球运动打断的短暂扫视进入视觉系统时，人们如何感知面前连续的视觉环境。部分答案可能是，视觉系统依赖于一种视觉记忆形式，以允许两次瞥视之间的连续性。在目前的工作中，研究小组将研究这种类型的视觉记忆是如何运作的。更好地理解通过眼球运动的视觉记忆的基本操作可能会带来实际应用，例如放射科医生、行李检查人员、卫星图像分析人员和其他职业要求他们在视觉搜索过程中搜索关键视觉信息的人员的优化程序。另一个潜在的应用是人工视觉系统的优化设计。提出的工作旨在回答两个基本问题，关于运作的视觉记忆之间的目光。首先，该研究旨在调查这种视觉记忆的容量：这种类型的记忆可以容纳多少视觉信息？其次，本研究还旨在探讨视觉记忆机制的容量限制如何制约人类在视觉搜索任务中的表现。例如，当视觉记忆的容量被超越时，这对一个人搜索可能隐藏在许多其他视觉信息中的特定视觉信息的能力有什么影响？一套严格的计算和实验技术将用于表征视觉搜索过程中包含在视觉记忆中的信息，并评估视觉记忆对视觉搜索性能的影响。这些技术将允许对视觉灵敏度和视觉记忆容量如何相互作用来决定人类在视觉搜索任务中的表现进行详细和新颖的定量预测。模型预测将通过心理物理实验进行检验。

A fundamental question in vision science concerns how people perceive a continuous visual environment before them when visual information enters the visual system through a series of brief glances interrupted by frequent rapid eye movements. Part of the answer may be that the visual system relies on a form of visual memory to allow for continuity between glances. In the present work, the research team will investigate how this type of visual memory operates. Achieving a better understanding of the basic operation of visual memory across eye movements could potentially lead to practical applications, such as optimized procedures for radiologists, baggage screeners, satellite image analysts, and others whose occupations require them to search for critical pieces of visual information during a visual search process. Another potential application could be optimized design of artificial vision systems. The proposed work aims to answer two basic questions regarding the operation of visual memory between glances. First, the research aims to investigate the capacity of such visual memory: How much visual information can this type of memory hold? Second, the research also aims to investigate how the capacity limitations of the visual memory mechanism constrain human performance in visual search tasks. For example, when the capacity of the visual memory is exceeded, how does this impact a person's ability to search for a specific piece of visual information that may be hidden among lots of other visual items? A set of rigorous computational and experimental techniques will be used to characterize the information contained within visual memory during visual search as well as to assess the impact of visual memory on visual search performance. The techniques will allow for detailed and novel quantitative predictions about how visual sensitivity and visual memory capacity interact to determine human performance in visual search tasks. Model predictions will be tested through psychophysical experiments.