Size, Distance, and Peripheral Position Effects on Target Detection

摘要

The influence of target size, peripheral target position, and viewing distance on target detection and identification was studied. Thirteen normally-sighted males were trained, and then replicated seven complete task performances. The main effects of target size, target position, and viewing distance were all highly significant, as were the involved simple and second-order interactions (p < .001). Both viewing distance and target size significantly influenced target detection, in inverse relation to the effective size of the stimulus, such that reduced image size at the eye was associated with longer target detection time. The degree of peripheral target location was universally associated with longer detection time for all target sizes, indicating that search performance was strongly oriented to the center of the field of view, rather than to the periphery. This corroborates previous findings regarding central peripheral response time relationships. This study is unusual in combining laboratory control of stimulus and view conditions with the use of realistic target objects usually obtainable only in field studies. (Author)