From "satisfaction of search" to "subsequent search misses": a review of multiple-target search errors across radiology and cognitive science

Abstract

For over 50 years, the satisfaction of search effect has been studied within the field of radiology. Defined as a decrease in detection rates for a subsequent target when an initial target is found within the image, these multiple target errors are known to underlie errors of omission (e.g., a radiologist is more likely to miss an abnormality if another abnormality is identified). More recently, they have also been found to underlie lab-based search errors in cognitive science experiments (e.g., an observer is more likely to miss a target 'T' if a different target 'T' was detected). This phenomenon was renamed the subsequent search miss (SSM) effect in cognitive science. Here we review the SSM literature in both radiology and cognitive science and discuss: (1) the current SSM theories (i.e., satisfaction, perceptual set, and resource depletion theories), (2) the eye movement errors that underlie the SSM effect, (3) the existing efforts tested to alleviate SSM errors, and (4) the evolution of methodologies and analyses used when calculating the SSM effect. Finally, we present the attentional template theory, a novel mechanistic explanation for SSM errors, which ties together our current understanding of SSM errors and the attentional template literature.

Keywords: Attentional template; Multiple-target search; Satisfaction of search; Subsequent search misses; Visual search.

Fig. 1

Sample Single-target Display, Dual-target Display, and Hit Rate Graph for an SSM task: In a standard cognitive science SSM task, observers are asked to search in simplified-search displays for ‘T’ shaped targets (where the crossbars of the two perpendicular rectangles perfectly bisect one another) amongst pseudo ‘L’ shaped distractors (two perpendicular rectangles do not perfectly bisect one another). Search items are typically randomized for rotation (e.g., 0, 90, 180, or 270 from a canonical ‘T’ shape) and location within the search display. Search items may also vary in “salience” (e.g., a darker gray or light gray color amongst a white background), which allows researchers to compare the hit rate of a specific type of target (e.g., low-salience ‘T’) between single and dual-target displays to calculate the SSM effect. The graph above depicts a typical SSM effect with a lower hit rate for a low-salience ‘T’ when it appeared in a dual-target display compared to when a low-salience ‘T’ appeared in a single-target display. These hypothetical results suggest that the detection of the low-salience target ‘T’ was affected by the detection of the high-salience target ‘T’ compared to when it was by itself in a search display (e.g., Fleck et al., 2010)

Fig. 2

A. Attentional Template Theory Tenets. The tenets of the Attentional Template theory were motivated by the SSM error literature and the broader visual working memory, attention, and visual search literature (see Tenets 1, 2, and 3 subsections below). B. Time Course of the Fluctuation of Working Memory and Attentional Resources. The battery illustration depicts the capacity limitations of visual working memory and attention. The double-sided arrows between the batteries illustrate the flow of a shared cognitive resource that underlies both visual working memory and attention, and that when one cognitive process is prioritized, the remaining cognitive process is hindered. After first target detection, visual working memory resources are prioritized to maintain the first target as an attentional template. Consequently, there are fewer attentional resources available, which will overall decrease the probability of additional target detection. Detection for similar targets after detecting a first target will be better compared to dissimilar targets because a first target attentional template will prime attention towards similar targets. Over time the first target may lose its prioritization as the attentional template, which will free up visual working memory resulting in improved and unbiased detection for similar and dissimilar targets