Out of sight, out of mind: Matching bias underlies confirmatory visual search

Abstract

Confirmation bias has recently been reported in visual search, where observers who were given a perceptual rule to test (e.g. BIs the p on a red circle?^) search stimuli that could confirm the rule stimuli preferentially (Rajsic, Wilson, & Pratt, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 41(5), [1353][1354][1355][1356][1357][1358][1359][1360][1361][1362][1363][1364] 2015). In this study, we compared the ability of concrete and abstract visual templates to guide attention using the visual confirmation bias. Experiment 1 showed that confirmatory search tendencies do not result from simple low-level priming, as they occurred when color templates were verbally communicated. Experiment 2 showed that confirmation bias did not occur when targets needed to be reported as possessing or not possessing the absence of a feature (i.e., reporting whether a target was on a nonred circle). Experiment 3 showed that confirmatory search also did not occur when search prompts referred to a set of visually heterogenous features (i.e., reporting whether a target on a colorful circle, regardless of the color). Together, these results show that the confirmation bias likely results from a matching heuristic, such that visual codes involved in representing the search goal prioritize stimuli possessing these features.

The price of information: Increased inspection costs reduce the confirmation bias in visual search

“…These findings are compatible with a priming explanation. On the other hand, some recent experiments that we have conducted suggest that priming—at least visual priming—cannot entirely explain these search patterns, as similar searching occurs when instructions are purely linguistic (i.e., participants are asked whether the target letter is on the red stimulus, without showing a red stimulus; Rajsic, Taylor, & Pratt, in press). All things considered, a hybrid account, where attentional sets are bootstrapped as initial templates are automatized through use, appears most promising.…”

A methodological toolbox for investigating attentional strategy

“…Similar approaches need to be taken with accuracy [19]. More broadly, efforts to quantify strategy from RT and accuracy metrics largely rely on the comparison of two or more conditions [20][21][22][23][24]. Unfortunately, while producing great insights, difference scores are indirect and bring on unwanted statistical noise, especially when employed in individual differences and correlational designs [25].…”

“…In a second experiment, he explained the optimal strategy to participants; yet, about half of the participants still used the suboptimal strategy. For these participants, lack of explicit knowledge of the best strategy did not seem to explain their choices (see also [23,30]).…”

“…Rajsic and colleagues analyzed relative display set sizes to reveal a "confirmation bias" in visual search [23,24]. In displays comprised of items in two color subsets, in which a target (e.g., "p") was always present in one of these colors, participants had to test a rule on each trial: e.g., does the "p" appear in blue?…”

More than a memory: Confirmatory visual search is not caused by remembering a visual feature

“…What we are interested in is whether visual search will exhibit a bias towards positive information; that is, whether search times will depend on the number of matching colors (i.e., the number of green letters, in the example given), as search for color-defined targets can be restricted to color subsets (Egeth, Virzi,& Garbart, 1984;Bacon & Egeth, 1997). Our previous MORE THAN MEMORY 5 investigations (Rajsic et al, 2015;Rajsic, Taylor & Pratt, 2016;Rajsic, Wilson, & Pratt, 2017) have shown that a bias towards positive information does win out over the alternative strategy of attending to the smaller color subset (Sobel & Cave, 2002).…”