Shape representation modulating the effect of motion on visual search performance

Sci Rep. 2017 Nov 2;7(1):14921. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-14999-1.

Abstract

The effect of motion on visual search has been extensively investigated, but that of uniform linear motion of display on search performance for tasks with different target-distractor shape representations has been rarely explored. The present study conducted three visual search experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants finished two search tasks that differed in target-distractor shape representations under static and dynamic conditions. Two tasks with clear and blurred stimuli were performed in Experiment 3. The experiments revealed that target-distractor shape representation modulated the effect of motion on visual search performance. For tasks with low target-distractor shape similarity, motion negatively affected search performance, which was consistent with previous studies. However, for tasks with high target-distractor shape similarity, if the target differed from distractors in that a gap with a linear contour was added to the target, and the corresponding part of distractors had a curved contour, motion positively influenced search performance. Motion blur contributed to the performance enhancement under dynamic conditions. The findings are useful for understanding the influence of target-distractor shape representation on dynamic visual search performance when display had uniform linear motion.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Attention
  • Form Perception*
  • Humans
  • Motion
  • Saccades
  • Visual Perception*
  • Young Adult