Visual search asymmetries in three-dimensional space

• Published in: Vision research (Oxford) Vol. 33; no. 18; pp. 2697 - 2704
• Main Authors: Previc, Fred H., Blume, Jennifer L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.12.1993; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Depth Perception - physiology; Discrimination (Psychology) - physiology; Extrapersonal attention; Feature-conjunction; Female; Functional Laterality; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Motion Perception - physiology; Perception; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reaction Time; Sensitivity and Specificity; Space Perception - physiology; Three-dimensional shape; Vision; Visual search; Feature-conjunction; Visual search; Extrapersonal attention; Three-dimensional shape; Human; Eccentricity; Stimulus localization; Visual field; Stimulus depth; Three dimensional space; Space perception; Experimental study; Discrimination task; Stimulus shape; Asymmetry; Vision; Reaction time; Visual attention
• ISSN: 0042-6989; 1878-5646
• DOI: 10.1016/0042-6989(93)90229-P

Feature-conjunction search performance was investigated as a function of the target's location in three-dimensional (3-D) space. Ten subjects viewed a display that contained 36 shapes, one of which was the target. The targets were presented in one of four quadrants, three depths, and three eccentricities. On a given trial, nontarget distractor shapes were presented at the other 35 locations. The ability to find a target shape was best when it was presented in the upper and right visual fields and was closest to the fixation point in both its depth and eccentricity. These nonuniformities may be partly derived from the link between visual search and an extrapersonal attentional mechanism.