Explicit and implicit category learning in categorical visual search.

Categorical search has been heavily investigated over the past decade, mostly using natural categories that leave the underlying category mental representation unknown. The categorization literature offers several theoretical accounts of category mental representations. One prominent account is that separate learning systems account for classification: an explicit learning system that relies on easily verbalized rules and an implicit learning system that relies on an associatively learned (nonverbalizable) information integration strategy.

The depth of executive function: Depth information aids executive function under challenging task conditions.

The present studies investigated how three core aspects of executive functioning may be influenced by the presence of depth information. Specifically, participants were assigned to one of three executive functioning tasks: working memory (i.e.

Is the key to phishing training persistence?: Developing a novel persistent intervention.

Most previous phishing interventions have employed discrete training approaches, such as brief instructions aimed at improving phishing detection. However, these discrete interventions have demonstrated limited success. The present studies focused on developing an alternative to discrete training by providing college-age adults with a persistent classification aid that guided them on what characteristics a phishing email might include.

Training detection of camouflaged targets in natural scenes: Backgrounds and targets both matter.

As target-background similarity increases, search performance declines, but this pattern can be attenuated with training. In the present study we (1) characterized training and transfer effects in visual search for camouflaged targets in naturalistic scenes, (2) evaluated whether transfer effects are preserved 3 months after training, (3) tested the suitability of the perceptual learning hypothesis (i.e.

So Many Phish, So Little Time: Exploring Email Task Factors and Phishing Susceptibility.

Objective: The present studies examine how task factors (e.g., email load, phishing prevalence) influence email performance.

Target specificity improves search, but how universal is the benefit?

Pictorial cues generally produce stronger search performance relative to categorical cues. We asked how universal is the benefit of a pictorial cue? To test this, we trained observers to categorize sinusoidal gratings in which categories were distinguished by spatial frequency or orientation. Next, participants completed a search task in which targets were pictorially and categorically cued.

Which Phish Is on the Hook? Phishing Vulnerability for Older Versus Younger Adults.

Objective: To determine if there are age-related differences in phishing vulnerability and if those differences exist under various task conditions (e.g., framing and time pressure).

The psychological interaction of spam email features.

This study explored distinct perceptual and decisional contributions to spam email mental construal. Participants classified spam emails according to pairings of three stimulus features - presence or absence of awkward prose, abnormal message structure, and implausible premise. We examined dimensional interactions within general recognition theory (GRT; a multidimensional extension of signal detection theory).

Depth benefits now loading: Visual working memory capacity and benefits in 3-D.

The present studies explored how performance in multidimensional displays varies as a function of visual working memory load, item distribution across depths, and individual capacity differences. In Experiment 1, the benefit of depth information (one depth vs. two depths) was examined across seven set sizes within a change-detection paradigm.

PTSD symptoms and overt attention to contextualized emotional faces: Evidence from eye tracking.

Abnormal patterns of attention to emotional faces and images are proposed by theories of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and this has been demonstrated empirically. However, few studies have examined how PTSD symptoms are associated with attention to emotional faces in the context of emotional background images. Eye tracking data were collected from seventy-eight undergraduates with a history of experiencing at least one traumatic event as they completed the Contextual Recognition of Affective Faces Task (CRAFT; Milanak and Berenbaum, 2014), which requires subjects to identify the emotion depicted by faces superimposed on an emotional background image.

Neurophysiological Response to Olfactory Stimuli in Combat Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

There is a need for a better understanding of underlying pathology in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to develop more effective treatments. The late positive potential (LPP) amplitude from electroencephalogram has been used to assess individual differences in emotional reactivity. There is evidence that olfaction is particularly important in emotional processing in PTSD.

Older Adult Multitasking Performance Using a Gaze-Contingent Useful Field of View.

Objective We implemented a gaze-contingent useful field of view paradigm to examine older adult multitasking performance in a simulated driving environment. Background Multitasking refers to the ability to manage multiple simultaneous streams of information. Recent work suggests that multitasking declines with age, yet the mechanisms supporting these declines are still debated.

Absence of distracting information explains the redundant signals effect for a centrally presented categorization task.

The redundant signals effect, a speed-up in response times with multiple targets compared to a single target in one display, is well-documented, with some evidence suggesting that it can occur even in conceptual processing when targets are presented bilaterally. The current study was designed to determine whether or not category-based redundant signals can speed up processing even without bilateral presentation. Toward that end, participants performed a go/no-go visual task in which they responded only to members of the target category (i.

Improving Wayfinding for Older Users With Selective Attention Deficits.

Older adults experience difficulties with navigating their environments, and may need to rely on signs more heavily than younger adults. However, older adults also experience difficulties with focusing their visual attention, which suggests that signs need to be designed with the goal of making it as easy as possible to attend to them. This article discusses some design principles that may be especially important to compensate for declining attentional focus.

Through the Google Glass: The impact of heads-up displays on visual attention.

In five experiments, we evaluated how secondary information presented on a heads-up display (HUD) impacts performance of a concurrent visual attention task. To do so, we had participants complete a primary visual search task under a variety of secondary load conditions (a single word presented on Google Glass during each search trial). Processing of secondary information was measured through a recognition memory task.

Measuring the Useful Field of View During Simulated Driving With Gaze-Contingent Displays.

Objective: We aimed to develop and test a new dynamic measure of transient changes to the useful field of view (UFOV), utilizing a gaze-contingent paradigm for use in realistic simulated environments.

Background: The UFOV, the area from which an observer can extract visual information during a single fixation, has been correlated with driving performance and crash risk. However, some existing measures of the UFOV cannot be used dynamically in realistic simulators, and other UFOV measures involve constant stimuli at fixed locations.

On the Hunt: Searching for Poorly Defined Camouflaged Targets.

As camouflaged targets share visual characteristics with the environment within which they are embedded, searchers rarely have access to a perfect visual template of such targets. Instead, they must rely on less specific representations to guide search. Although search for camouflaged and non-specified targets have both received attention in the literature, to date they have not been explored in a combined context.

Fixation not required: characterizing oculomotor attention capture for looming stimuli.

A stimulus moving toward us, such as a ball being thrown in our direction or a vehicle braking suddenly in front of ours, often represents a stimulus that requires a rapid response. Using a visual search task in which target and distractor items were systematically associated with a looming object, we explored whether this sort of looming motion captures attention, the nature of such capture using eye movement measures (overt/covert), and the extent to which such capture effects are more closely tied to motion onset or the motion itself. We replicated previous findings indicating that looming motion induces response time benefits and costs during visual search Lin, Franconeri, & Enns(Psychological Science 19(7): 686-693, 2008).

Are gamers better crossers? An examination of action video game experience and dual task effects in a simulated street crossing task.

Objective: A high-fidelity street crossing simulator was used to test the hypothesis that experienced action video game players are less vulnerable than non-gamers to dual task costs in complex tasks.

Background: Previous research has shown that action video game players outperform nonplayers on many single task measures of perception and attention. It is unclear, however, whether action video game players outperform nonplayers in complex, divided attention tasks.

Evaluating visual and auditory contributions to the cognitive restoration effect.

It has been suggested that certain real-world environments can have a restorative effect on an individual, as expressed in changes in cognitive performance and mood. Much of this research builds on Attention Restoration Theory (ART), which suggests that environments that have certain characteristics induce cognitive restoration via variations in attentional demands. Specifically, natural environments that require little top-down processing have a positive effect on cognitive performance, while city-like environments show no effect.

Blur Detection is Unaffected by Cognitive Load.

Blur detection is affected by retinal eccentricity, but is it also affected by attentional resources? Research showing effects of selective attention on acuity and contrast sensitivity suggests that allocating attention should increase blur detection. However, research showing that blur affects selection of saccade targets suggests that blur detection may be pre-attentive. To investigate this question, we carried out experiments in which viewers detected blur in real-world scenes under varying levels of cognitive load manipulated by the -back task.

Training and transfer of training in rapid visual search for camouflaged targets.

Previous examinations of search under camouflage conditions have reported that performance improves with training and that training can engender near perfect transfer to similar, but novel camouflage-type displays [1]. What remains unclear, however, are the cognitive mechanisms underlying these training improvements and transfer benefits. On the one hand, improvements and transfer benefits might be associated with higher-level overt strategy shifts, such as through the restriction of eye movements to target-likely (background) display regions.

Change detection: training and transfer.

Observers often fail to notice even dramatic changes to their environment, a phenomenon known as change blindness. If training could enhance change detection performance in general, then it might help to remedy some real-world consequences of change blindness (e.g.

Falls risk and simulated driving performance in older adults.

Declines in executive function and dual-task performance have been related to falls in older adults, and recent research suggests that older adults at risk for falls also show impairments on real-world tasks, such as crossing a street. The present study examined whether falls risk was associated with driving performance in a high-fidelity simulator. Participants were classified as high or low falls risk using the Physiological Profile Assessment and completed a number of challenging simulated driving assessments in which they responded quickly to unexpected events.

Cutting through the clutter: searching for targets in evolving complex scenes.

We evaluated the use of visual clutter as a surrogate measure of set size effects in visual search by comparing the effects of subjective clutter (determined by independent raters) and objective clutter (as quantified by edge count and feature congestion) using "evolving" scenes, ones that varied incrementally in clutter while maintaining their semantic continuity. Observers searched for a target building in rural, suburban, and urban city scenes created using the game SimCity. Stimuli were 30 screenshots obtained for each scene type as the city evolved over time.