The Study Of The Influence Of The Relationship Between Target And Distractors On Spatial Contextual Cueing Effect

Spatial contextual cueing effect refers to the process by which scene global configurations guide visual attention to important locations, objects and events within scenes. It is a kind of bottom-up factors in the guidance of attention in visual search. There are very important academic and practical values in its study.The study systemically explored the influence of the relationship between target and distractors on spatial contextual cueing effect through three series. In series 1 (experiment one), we examined whether the relationship between them could influence spatial contextual cueing effect; and in series 2 (experiment two to eight), we investigated characteristics and regularities of this influence; and in series 3 (experiment nine to ten), we probed into the mechanism of this influence using eye tracking technique.The major conclusions were as follows:1. The relationship between target and distractors could influence spatial contextual cueing effect.2. Visual relationship between target and distractors was the crucial factor in this influence:(1) Spatial contextual cueing effect existed when visual relationship between target and distractors was consistent in spite of their semantic relationship.(2) Spatial contextual cueing effect disappeared when visual relationship between target and distractors was inconsistent in spite of their semantic relationship.3. The mechanism of this influence could be explained by eye movement pattern:(1) Spatial contextual cueing effect existed when semantic relationship between target and distractors was not consistent. This could be explained by serial processing. And Fewer fixations were required to find the target in the repeated configurations than in the new configurations. Furthermore, the distance of the first saccade from thetarget were smaller for the repeated than for the new displays. In addition, the probabilities of initial fixation landed on the target were greater for the repeated than for the new contexts.(2) Spatial contextual cueing effect disappeared when target and distractors had different colors. This could be explained by parallel processing. And the type of configurations had almost no effect on the number of fixations and the distance of the first saccade from the target and the probabilities of iniatial fixation landed on the target.4. Spatial contextual cueing effect was implicit.