Some spatial layouts may suit our visual search habits better than others. We compared eye movements during search across three spatial configurations. Participants searched for a line segment oriented 45^∘ to the right. Variation in the orientation of distractor line segments determines the extent to which this target would be visible in peripheral vision: a target among homogeneous distractors is highly visible, while a target among heterogeneous distractors requires central vision. When the search array is split into homogeneous and heterogeneous left and right halves, a large proportion of fixations are “wasted” on the homogeneous half, leading to slower search times. We compared this pattern to two new configurations. In the first, the array was split into upper and lower halves. During a passive viewing baseline condition, we observed biases to look both at the top half and also at the hetergeneous region first. Both of these biases were weaker during active search, despite the fact that the heterogeneous bias would have led to improvements in efficiency if it had been retained. In the second experiment, patches of more or less heterogeneous line segments were scattered across the search space. This configuration allows for more natural, spatially distributed scanpaths. Participants were more efficient and less variable relative to the left/right configuration. The results are consistent with the idea that visual search is associated with a distributed sequence of fixations, guided only loosely by the potential visibility of the target in different regions of the scene.

一些空间布局可能比其他布局更适合我们的视觉搜索习惯。我们在三种空间配置中比较了搜索过程中的眼球运动。参与者搜索的线段方向为 45 ^∘向右。干扰线段方向的变化决定了该目标在周边视觉中的可见程度：同质干扰物中的目标是高度可见的，而异质干扰物中的目标需要中心视觉。当搜索阵列被分成同质和异质的左右两半时，大部分注视被“浪费”在同质的一半上，导致搜索时间变慢。我们将此模式与两种新配置进行了比较。首先，阵列被分成上半部和下半部。在被动查看基线条件下，我们观察到偏向于首先查看上半部分和异质区域。在主动搜索期间，这两种偏差都较弱，尽管如果保留异质性偏差会提高效率。在第二个实验中，或多或少的异质线段散布在搜索空间中。这种配置允许更自然、空间分布的扫描路径。相对于左/右配置，参与者效率更高且变化更少。结果与视觉搜索与分布式注视序列相关联的想法一致，仅松散地由场景不同区域中目标的潜在可见性引导。相对于左/右配置，参与者效率更高且变化更少。结果与视觉搜索与分布式注视序列相关联的想法一致，仅松散地由场景不同区域中目标的潜在可见性引导。相对于左/右配置，参与者效率更高且变化更少。结果与视觉搜索与分布式注视序列相关联的想法一致，仅松散地由场景不同区域中目标的潜在可见性引导。