Abstract
Many experiments have shown that knowing a targets visual features improves search performance over knowing the target name. Other experiments have shown that scene context can facilitate object search in natural scenes. In this study, we investigated how scene context and target features affect search performance. We examined two possible sources of information from scene context—the scenes gist and the visual details of the scene—and how they potentially interact with target-feature information. Prior to commencing search, participants were shown a scene and a target cue depicting either a picture or the category name (or no-information control). Using eye movement measures, we investigated how the target features and scene context influenced two components of search: early attentional guidance processes and later verification processes involved in the identification of the target. We found that both scene context and target features improved guidance, but that target features also improved speed of target recognition. Furthermore, we found that a scenes visual details played an important role in improving guidance, much more so than did the scenes gist alone.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Antes, J. R. (1974). The time course of picture viewing. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 103, 62–70. doi:10.1037/h0036799
Bar, M. (2004). Visual objects in context. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5, 617–629.
Biederman, I., Mezzanotte, R. J., & Rabinowitz, J. C. (1982). Scene perception: Detecting and judging objects undergoing relational violations. Cognitive Psychology, 14, 143–177. doi:10.1037/02787393.9.3.411
Brockmole, J. R., & Võ, M. L.-H. (2009, November). The role of semantic memory in learning contextual regularities in real-world scenes. Paper presented at the 50th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Boston, MA.
Buswell, G. T. (1935). How people look at pictures: A study of the psychology of perception in art. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Castelhano, M. S., & Henderson, J. M. (2007). Initial scene representations facilitate eye movement guidance in visual search. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 33, 753–763. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.33.4.753
Castelhano, M. S., & Henderson, J. M. (2008). The influence of color on the perception of scene gist. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 34, 660–675. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.34.3.660
Castelhano, M. S., Mack, M. L., & Henderson, J. M. (2009). Viewing task influences eye movement control during active scene perception. Journal of Vision, 9(3, Art. 6). doi:10.1167/9.3.6
Castelhano, M. S., Pollatsek, A., & Cave, K. R. (2008). Typicality aids search for an unspecified target, but only in identification and not in attentional guidance. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 795–801. doi:10.3758/PBR.15.4.795
Davenport, J. L. (2007). Consistency effects between objects in scenes. Memory & Cognition, 35, 393–401.
Davenport, J. L., & Potter, M. C. (2004). Scene consistency in object and background perception. Psychological Science, 15, 559–564. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00719.x
De Graef, P., Christiaens, D., & DYdewalle, G. (1990). Perceptual effects of scene context on object identification. Psychological Research, 52, 317–329. doi:10.1007/BF00868064
Eckstein, M. P., Drescher, B. A., & Shimozaki, S. S. (2006). Attentional cues in real scenes, saccadic targeting, and Bayesian priors. Psychological Science, 17, 973–980. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01815.x
Ehinger, K. A., Hidalgo-Sotelo, B., Torralba, A., & Oliva, A. (2009). Modelling search for people in 900 scenes: A combined source model of eye guidance. Visual Cognition, 17, 945–978. doi:10.1080/13506280902834720
Findlay, J. M. (1997). Saccade target selection during visual search. Vision Research, 37, 617–631. doi:10.1016/S0042-6989(96)00218-0
Foulsham, T., & Underwood, G. (2007). How does the purpose of inspection influence the potency of visual salience in scene perception? Perception, 36, 1123–1138.
Friedman, A. (1979). Framing pictures: The role of knowledge in automatized encoding and memory for gist. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 108, 316–355. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.108.3.316
Henderson, J. M. (1992). Object identification in context: The visual processing of natural scenes. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 46, 319–341. doi:10.1037/h0084325
Henderson, J. M. (2003). Human gaze control during real-world scene perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 498–504. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2003.09.006
Henderson, J. M., Pollatsek, A., & Rayner, K. (1987). Effects of foveal priming and extrafoveal preview on object identification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 13, 449–463. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.13.3.449
Henderson, J. M., Weeks, P. A., Jr., & Hollingworth, A. (1999). The effects of semantic consistency on eye movements during complex scene viewing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 25, 210–228. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.25.1.210
Hock, H. S., Gordon, G. P., & Whitehurst, R. (1974). Contextual relations: The influence of familiarity, physical plausibility, and belongingness. Perception & Psychophysics, 16, 4–8.
Hollingworth, A., & Henderson, J. M. (1998). Does consistent scene context facilitate object perception? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 127, 398–415.
Kanan, C., Tong, M. H., Zhang, L., & Cottrell, G. W. (2009). SUN: Top-down saliency using natural statistics. Visual Cognition, 17, 979–1003. doi:10.1080/13506280902771138
Loftus, G. R., & Mackworth, N. H. (1978). Cognitive determinants of fixation location during picture viewing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 4, 565–572. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.4.4.565
Malcolm, G. L., & Henderson, J. M. (2009). The effects of target template specificity on visual search in real-world scenes: Evidence from eye movements. Journal of Vision, 9(11, Art. 8). doi:10.1167/9.11.8
McCarley, J. S., Kramer, A. F., Wickens, C. D., Vidoni, E. D., & Boot, W. R. (2004). Visual skills in airport-security screening. Psychological Science, 15, 302–306. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00673.x
Neider, M. B., & Zelinsky, G. J. (2006). Scene context guides eye movements during visual search. Vision Research, 46, 614–621. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2005.08.025
Pomplun, M., Ritter, H., & Velichkovsky, B. (1996). Disambiguating complex visual information: Towards communication of personal views of a scene. Perception, 25, 931–948. doi:10.1068/p250931
Rayner, K., & Pollatsek, A. (1992). Eye movements and scene perception. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 46, 342–376. doi:10.1037/ h0084328
Rutishauser, U., & Koch, C. (2007). Probabilistic modeling of eye movement data during conjunction search via feature-based attention. Journal of Vision, 7(6, Art. 5). doi:10.1167/7.6.5
Schmidt, J., & Zelinsky, G. J. (2009). Search guidance is proportional to the categorical specificity of a target cue. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62, 1904–1914. doi:10.1080/17470210902853530
Scialfa, C. T., & Joffe, K. M. (1998). Response times and eye movements in feature and conjunction search as a function of target eccentricity. Perception & Psychophysics, 60, 1067–1082.
Sheinberg, D. L., & Logothetis, N. K. (2001). Noticing familiar objects in real world scenes: The role of temporal cortical neurons in natural vision. Journal of Neuroscience, 21, 1340–1350.
Tatler, B. W. (2009). Current understanding of eye guidance. Visual Cognition, 17, 777–789. doi:10.1080/13506280902869213
Torralba, A., Oliva, A., Castelhano, M. S., & Henderson, J. M. (2006). Contextual guidance of eye movements and attention in realworld scenes: The role of global features in object search. Psychological Review, 113, 766–786. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.113.4.766
Vickery, T. J., King, L.-W., & Jiang, Y. (2005). Setting up the target template in visual search. Journal of Vision, 5(1, Art. 8). doi:10.1167/5.1.8
Võ, M. L.-H., & Schneider, W. X. (2010). A glimpse is not a glimpse: Differential processing of flashed scene previews leads to differential target search benefits. Visual Cognition, 18, 171–200. doi:10.1080/13506280802547901
Williams, D. E., & Reingold, E. M. (2001). Preattentive guidance of eye movements during triple conjunction search tasks: The effects of feature discriminability and saccadic amplitude. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 8, 476–488.
Wolfe, J. M. (1998). Visual search. In H. Pashler (Ed.), Attention (pp. 13–73). Hove, U.K.: Psychology Press.
Wolfe, J. M., Horowitz, T. S., Kenner, N., Hyle, M., & Vasan, N. (2004). How fast can you change your mind? The speed of topdown guidance in visual search. Vision Research, 44, 1411–1426. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2003.11.024
Yarbus, A. L. (1967). Eye movements and vision. New York: Plenum.
Zelinsky, G. J., & Schmidt, J. (2009). An effect of referential scene constraint on search implies scene segmentation. Visual Cognition, 17, 1004–1028. doi:10.1080/13506280902764315
Zhang, L., Tong, M. H., & Cottrell, G. W. (2007). Information attracts attention: A probabilistic account of the cross-race advantage in visual search. In D. S. McNamara & J. G. Trafton (Eds.), Proceedings of the 29th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 749–754). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Zhang, L., Tong, M. H., Marks, T. K., Shan, H., & Cottrell, G. W. (2008). SUN: A Bayesian framework for saliency using natural statistics. Journal of Vision, 8(7, Art. 32). doi:10.1167/8.7.32
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Castelhano, M.S., Heaven, C. The relative contribution of scene context and target features to visual search in scenes. Atten Percept Psychophys 72, 1283–1297 (2010). https://doi.org/10.3758/APP.72.5.1283
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/APP.72.5.1283