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This story is from the category Sensors
Date posted: 17/06/2009 Like the robots in the "Terminator" movies, our eyes move methodically through a scene when seeking out an object. If we don't immediately find what we're searching for, our attention leaves the already-scanned area behind and moves on to new, unexplored regions of a scene, still seeking the target. "Inhibition of return" -- in which our attention rarely or slowly returns to objects we've already looked at -- is what many believe makes visual search so efficient. But how do our eyes behave when we're not specifically hunting for something? A University of Nebraska-Lincoln-led research team recently found clues suggesting our vision, unlike those "Terminator" machines, can lock in on certain targets more quickly if they're not in search mode. Mike Dodd, a UNL professor of psychology, worked with researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands and the University of Iowa in tracking eye movements as subjects viewed various scenes. Using high-tech equipment that followed eye movements in real time, researchers recorded where their subjects' attention was focused at each moment. The participants were divided into four groups: One searched scenes for a specific target; one memorized each scene; one rated how pleasant the scenes were; and one was told to "free-view" the scenes -- to look anywhere they liked. When a target would appear in the participants' line of sight -- either in an old location or in a spot where their eyes had yet to focus upon -- all four groups were instructed shift their eyes to the target. But the study's findings, published this month in Psychological Science, suggest that "inhibition of return" happens during visual search and not during other visual tasks. See the full Story via external site: www.physorg.com Most recent stories in this category (Sensors): 28/02/2017: DJI drones use plane avoidance tech |
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