Modeling the Effect of Selection History on Pop-Out Visual Search

Tseng, Yuan‐Chi; Glaser, Joshua I.; Caddigan, Eamon; Lleras, Alejandro · 2014 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089996

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Summary

This study investigates how selection history influences visual attention by modeling two inter-trial effects: Priming of Pop-out (POP) and the Distractor Preview Effect (DPE). While traditional models attribute visual selection to top-down goals and bottom-up salience, recent evidence suggests selection history is a distinct factor. The authors aimed to determine whether the Ratcliff Diffusion Model (RDM) could account for performance changes in these effects and identify which specific model parameters drive them. They hypothesized that these tasks are fundamentally attentional decision-making processes regarding target color, rather than simple location-based searches. The researchers conducted an experiment with five participants who performed a saccadic selection task involving 1,600 trials each. Participants were instructed to saccade toward a color oddball target if present or maintain fixation if absent. The experimental design included four conditions based on the relationship between consecutive trials: Search Repeated and Search Switched (POP conditions), and Target-color Previewed and Distractor-color Previewed (DPE conditions). Eye movements were recorded using an EyeLink 1000 system. The authors applied the RDM to fit the observed saccade latency and accuracy data. The model parameters included drift rate (sensory evidence quality), boundary separation (speed-accuracy tradeoff), non-decision time, and starting point bias (initial tendency toward a specific color). The fitting process utilized a Chi-Square method, comparing model predictions to empirical data across quantiles to minimize error. The results demonstrated that the RDM effectively modeled the behavioral data for both POP and DPE conditions. Crucially, the analysis revealed that the bias parameter (starting point) was the most critical factor underlying the effects of selection history. Specifically, the model showed that recent selection history created a bias regarding the current trial’s most likely target color. For instance, if a color was a distractor in the previous trial, the model reflected a bias away from that color in the current trial, consistent with the DPE. Conversely, repeated target colors facilitated faster decisions via increased bias toward that color, consistent with POP. The drift rate and boundary separation parameters showed less significant or inconsistent changes across conditions compared to the bias parameter. The study concludes that the 3-item color-oddball task is best understood as an attentional decision-making task where selection history modulates the initial bias of the decision process. This finding supports the view that selection history operates independently of explicit goals and physical salience, influencing visual search by altering the subjective belief or bias regarding which feature constitutes the target. By successfully modeling these effects with the RDM, the authors provide a mechanistic explanation for how recent experience shapes attentional control, suggesting that the brain utilizes implicit biases derived from selection history to optimize visual search efficiency.

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• visual search