Activation thresholds, not quitting thresholds, account for the low prevalence effect in dynamic search.

The low-prevalence effect (LPE) is the finding that target detection rates decline as targets become less frequent in a visual search task. A major source of this effect is thought to be that fewer targets result in lower quitting thresholds, i.e.

Isolating the impact of a visual search template's color and form information on search guidance and verification times.

Visual search can be guided by biasing one's attention towards features associated with a target. Prior work has shown that high-fidelity, picture-based cues are more beneficial to search than text-based cues. However, typically picture cues provide both detailed form information and color information that is absent from text-based cues.

A novel strategy to optimize critical information on over the counter labels for older adults.

Background And Aims: Labels designed to communicate critical information are paramount for the safe and effective use of over-the-counter medications; in recognition of this, the content and formatting of over the counter (OTC) labels sold in interstate commerce has been regulated for decades. Yet, available studies suggest that consumers frequently rely on limited information during decision making, failing to access the information required in the Drug Facts Label. This is particularly important for older consumers, who are at greater risk for adverse reactions to medicines.

Quitting thresholds in visual search are impacted by target present detection times but not their variability.

Models of visual search posit that target absent responses occur when the quitting threshold for the trial is reached before a target is detected, and that feedback about missed targets allows the quitting threshold to be adaptively set to the difficulty of the search task. While these models may effectively capture processes in lab-based tasks, in real-world searches feedback is often impossible to provide. Instead, observers have little information about their errors, and may only be aware of when they successfully detect the target.

Revisiting the self-generation effect in proofreading.

The self-generation effect refers to the finding that people's memory for information tends to be better when they generate it themselves. Counterintuitively, when proofreading, this effect may make it more difficult to detect mistakes in one's own writing than in others' writing. We investigated the self-generation effect and sources of individual differences in proofreading performance in two eye-tracking experiments.

Identifying over-the-counter information to prioritize for the purpose of reducing adverse drug reactions in older adults: A national survey of pharmacists.

Background: Over-the-counter (OTC) medication use is associated with risks of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), particularly among older adults. The Drug Facts Label (DFL) is supposed to provide consumers with information that would avoid ADRs, yet research suggests that consumers frequently fail to interact with this critical information. We postulate that emphasizing critical information by placing it on the front of the package may increase its usage.

Using change detection to objectively evaluate whether novel over-the-counter drug labels can increase attention to critical health information among older adults.

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs have many benefits but also carry risks, such as adverse drug reactions, which are more prevalent in older adults. Because these products do not require the oversight of a physician or pharmacist, labeling plays a key role in communicating information required for their safe and effective use. Research suggests that current labels are not terribly effective at communicating potential risk.

Empirical evaluation of the presence of a label containing standard drinks on pour accuracy among US college students.

Purpose: Alcohol concentration has traditionally been labeled in the form of alcohol by volume (ABV). This format can cause difficulty in evaluating accuracy of a pour because it doesn't directly connect with recommendations related to "standard drinks," the approach used by the US CDC and others organizations which intend to facilitate responsible drinking behaviors. Strategies which more directly connect guidelines related to healthy drinking behaviors to alcohol labeling are needed.

A novel, unbiased approach to evaluating subsequent search misses in dual target visual search.

Research in radiology and visual cognition suggest that finding one target during visual search may result in increased misses for a second target, an effect known as subsequent search misses (SSM). Here, we demonstrate that the common method of calculating second-target detection performance is biased and could produce spurious SSM effects. We describe the source of that bias and document factors that influence its magnitude.

Value-based attention capture: Differential effects of loss and gain contingencies.

There is evidence that attention can be captured by a feature that is associated with reward. However, it is unclear how associating a feature with loss impacts attentional capture. Some have found evidence for attentional capture by loss-associated stimuli, suggesting that attention is biased toward stimuli predictive of consequence, regardless of the valence of that consequence.

Individual differences predict low prevalence visual search performance and sources of errors: An eye-tracking study.

Targets in real-world visual search tasks, such as baggage screening, may appear on as few as 2% of searches (Hofer & Schwaninger, 2005). Rare targets are missed more frequently than common targets, a phenomenon known as the . Given the importance of rare target detection, researchers have sought to increase performance through technological improvements, experimental manipulations, and individual differences approaches.

Persistent guidance of attention in visual statistical learning.

When repeatedly selected features have predictive value, an observer can learn to prioritize them. However, relatively little is known about the mechanisms underlying this persistent statistical learning. In two experiments, we investigated the boundary conditions of statistical learning.

Individual differences point to two separate processes involved in the resolution of binocular rivalry.

Although binocular rivalry is different from other perceptually bistable phenomena in requiring interocular conflict, it also shares numerous features with those phenomena. This raises the question of whether, and to what extent, the neural bases of binocular rivalry and other bistable phenomena overlap. Here we examine this question using an individual-differences approach.

Attention to colors induces surround suppression at category boundaries.

We investigated how attention to a visual feature modulates representations of other features. The feature-similarity gain model predicts a graded modulation, whereas an alternative model asserts an inhibitory surround in feature space. Although evidence for both types of modulations can be found, a consensus has not emerged in the literature.

Chasing red herrings: Can visual distracters extend the time children take to open child resistant vials?

Background: Unintentional exposure to medications is a noted problem in pediatric populations despite the prevalent use of child-resistant (CR) packaging and educational campaigns informing consumers about appropriate storage.

Objective: Conduct a proof-of concept study that evaluates how package designs that engage the attention of children in meaningless ways affect opening time and number of openings.

Study Design: Non-CR vials with or without distracters were provided to 108 children (24-51 months) in pairs.

Revisiting individual differences in the time course of binocular rivalry.

Simultaneously showing an observer two incompatible displays, one to each eye, causes binocular rivalry, during which the observer regularly switches between perceiving one eye's display and perceiving the other. Observers differ in the rate of this perceptual cycle, and these individual differences have been reported to correlate with differences in the perceptual switch rate for other bistable perception phenomena. Identifying which psychological or neural factors explain this variability can help clarify the mechanisms underlying binocular rivalry and of bistable perception generally.

Eye movement feedback fails to improve visual search performance.

Many real-world searches (e.g., radiology and baggage screening) have rare targets.

The bandwidth of VWM consolidation varies with the stimulus feature: Evidence from event-related potentials.

Our previous work suggests that 2 colors can be consolidated into visual short-term memory (VSTM) in parallel without a loss of memory precision, whereas consolidation of 2 orientations is performed in a strictly serial manner. Those experiments compared VSTM performance for simultaneously and sequentially presented stimuli. However, there is still controversy about whether the bandwidth for consolidation is determined by the type of information.

Investigating the relationship between media multitasking and processes involved in task-switching.

Although multitasking with media has increased dramatically in recent years (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010), the association between media multitasking and cognitive performance is poorly understood. In addition, the literature on the relationship between media multitasking and task-switching, one measure of cognitive control, has produced mixed results (Alzahabi & Becker, 2013; Minear et al., 2013; Ophir, Nass, & Wagner, 2009).

Individual differences predict low prevalence visual search performance.

Critical real-world visual search tasks such as radiology and baggage screening rely on the detection of rare targets. When targets are rare, observers search for a relatively short amount of time and have a high miss rate, a pattern of results known as the low prevalence effect. Attempts to improve the search for rare targets have been unsuccessful or resulted in an increase in detections at the price of more false alarms.

Target-present guessing as a function of target prevalence and accumulated information in visual search.

Target prevalence influences visual search behavior. At low target prevalence, miss rates are high and false alarms are low, while the opposite is true at high prevalence. Several models of search aim to describe search behavior, one of which has been specifically intended to model search at varying prevalence levels.

Working Memory Capacity Predicts Selection and Identification Errors in Visual Search.

As public safety relies on the ability of professionals, such as radiologists and baggage screeners, to detect rare targets, it could be useful to identify predictors of visual search performance. Schwark, Sandry, and Dolgov found that working memory capacity (WMC) predicts hit rate and reaction time in low prevalence searches. This link was attributed to higher WMC individuals exhibiting a higher quitting threshold and increasing the probability of finding the target before terminating search in low prevalence search.

Evaluating Varied Label Designs for Use with Medical Devices: Optimized Labels Outperform Existing Labels in the Correct Selection of Devices and Time to Select.

Purpose: Effective standardization of medical device labels requires objective study of varied designs. Insufficient empirical evidence exists regarding how practitioners utilize and view labeling.

Objective: Measure the effect of graphic elements (boxing information, grouping information, symbol use and color-coding) to optimize a label for comparison with those typical of commercial medical devices.

Decision processes in visual search as a function of target prevalence.

The probability of missing a target increases in low target prevalence search tasks. Wolfe and Van Wert (2010) propose 2 causes of this effect: reducing the quitting threshold, and conservatively shifting the decision making criterion used to evaluate each item. Reducing the quitting threshold predicts that target absent responses will be made without fully inspecting the display, increasing misses due to never inspecting the target (selection errors).

Assessing attentional prioritization of front-of-pack nutrition labels using change detection.

We used a change detection method to evaluate attentional prioritization of nutrition information that appears in the traditional "Nutrition Facts Panel" and in front-of-pack nutrition labels. Results provide compelling evidence that front-of-pack labels attract attention more readily than the Nutrition Facts Panel, even when participants are not specifically tasked with searching for nutrition information. Further, color-coding the relative nutritional value of key nutrients within the front-of-pack label resulted in increased attentional prioritization of nutrition information, but coding using facial icons did not significantly increase attention to the label.