Audio and audiovisual cueing in visual search: Effects of target uncertainty and auditory cue precision

Abstract

Auditory spatial cue accuracy and target uncertainty were examined within visual search. Participants identified a visual target to be present or absent under various target percentage conditions (25%, 50%, & 100%) with either an auditory cue which was spatially coincident with or displaced 4° or 8° (vertical or horizontal) from the target, or both an auditory and visual cue (circle 6.5° radius; identifying the local-target-area surrounding the target). Within the auditory cue condition, horizontal displacement was a greater detriment to target present search times than vertical displacement, regardless of error magnitude or target percentage. When provided an audiovisual cue, search times decreased 25% for present targets, and as much as 300% for absent targets. Furthermore, within audiovisual cue condition, while present target search times decreased with target percentage, absent target search times increased with target percentage. Cue condition and target uncertainty driven search strategies are discussed, with recommended design requirements and research implementations. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.