Visual search is often guided by memory. In the laboratory, memory-guided search has been investigated amply with the contextual cueing paradigm, demonstrating that incidental learning may guide search in the same or similar environments. Similarly, unequal spatial presentation probability of the target may guide search to the high probability location. Likewise, statistical properties of complex distractor sets can be learned and used to guide search. While search in these examples is guided by long-term memory, working memory can influence visual search as well. For instance, if we look for subtle differences between two objects, we must hold a template of one object in working memory while moving our eyes to the other object.
While the contextual cueing paradigm is well investigated for visual search tasks in the lab environment, we are only beginning to understand contextual cueing in other sensory modalities, including cross-modal effects. Likewise, further research is needed on how contextual cueing transfers to the real (or a virtual) world. Concerning working memory templates for search, an area of debate concerns the mechanisms of distractor cueing for attentional search guidance. Concerning the neural basis of memory guided search, a contribution of the medial temporal lobes has been established. However, the precise contribution of individual structures, e.g., the hippocampus, remains debated. Furthermore, the interaction of eye movements with memory processes and related brain structures is an active field of investigation that could also contribute to the understanding of memory-guided search.
This Research Topic invites empirical papers and integrative reviews on human behavioral, neuroimaging and patient studies investigating behavioral processes of memory-guided search as well as their neural basis with particular emphasis on the following topics:
- Contextual cueing involving visual search, cross-modal search, or search in complex real or virtual environments
- Target probability cueing
- Distractor cueing with visual working memory
- Interaction of eye movements - including microsaccades - and memory processes in memory-guided search
Visual search is often guided by memory. In the laboratory, memory-guided search has been investigated amply with the contextual cueing paradigm, demonstrating that incidental learning may guide search in the same or similar environments. Similarly, unequal spatial presentation probability of the target may guide search to the high probability location. Likewise, statistical properties of complex distractor sets can be learned and used to guide search. While search in these examples is guided by long-term memory, working memory can influence visual search as well. For instance, if we look for subtle differences between two objects, we must hold a template of one object in working memory while moving our eyes to the other object.
While the contextual cueing paradigm is well investigated for visual search tasks in the lab environment, we are only beginning to understand contextual cueing in other sensory modalities, including cross-modal effects. Likewise, further research is needed on how contextual cueing transfers to the real (or a virtual) world. Concerning working memory templates for search, an area of debate concerns the mechanisms of distractor cueing for attentional search guidance. Concerning the neural basis of memory guided search, a contribution of the medial temporal lobes has been established. However, the precise contribution of individual structures, e.g., the hippocampus, remains debated. Furthermore, the interaction of eye movements with memory processes and related brain structures is an active field of investigation that could also contribute to the understanding of memory-guided search.
This Research Topic invites empirical papers and integrative reviews on human behavioral, neuroimaging and patient studies investigating behavioral processes of memory-guided search as well as their neural basis with particular emphasis on the following topics:
- Contextual cueing involving visual search, cross-modal search, or search in complex real or virtual environments
- Target probability cueing
- Distractor cueing with visual working memory
- Interaction of eye movements - including microsaccades - and memory processes in memory-guided search
