The effect of target scarcity on visual foraging
Previous studies have investigated the effect of target prevalence in combination with the effect of explicit target value on human visual foraging strategies, though the conclusions have been mixed. Some find that individuals have a bias towards high-value targets even when these targets are scarce...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
The Royal Society
2024-12-01
|
| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.240060 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1846141899108253696 |
|---|---|
| author | A. E. Hughes H. R. Statham A. D. F. Clarke |
| author_facet | A. E. Hughes H. R. Statham A. D. F. Clarke |
| author_sort | A. E. Hughes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Previous studies have investigated the effect of target prevalence in combination with the effect of explicit target value on human visual foraging strategies, though the conclusions have been mixed. Some find that individuals have a bias towards high-value targets even when these targets are scarcer, while other studies find that this bias disappears when those targets are scarcer. In this study, we tested for a bias for scarce targets using standard feature versus conjunction visual foraging tasks, without an explicit value being given. Based on the idea of commodity theory and implicit value, we hypothesized that participants would show a scarcity bias. The bias was investigated using a Bayesian statistical model which has been developed for predicting target-by-target foraging behaviours. However, we found no evidence of a scarcity bias in our experiment, suggesting that participants did not inherently find rarer targets more rewarding. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6d3cce38b9e7415ca374bc5911b50114 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-6d3cce38b9e7415ca374bc5911b501142024-12-04T00:06:00ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032024-12-01111210.1098/rsos.240060The effect of target scarcity on visual foragingA. E. Hughes0H. R. Statham1A. D. F. Clarke2Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UKSchool of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UKDepartment of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UKPrevious studies have investigated the effect of target prevalence in combination with the effect of explicit target value on human visual foraging strategies, though the conclusions have been mixed. Some find that individuals have a bias towards high-value targets even when these targets are scarcer, while other studies find that this bias disappears when those targets are scarcer. In this study, we tested for a bias for scarce targets using standard feature versus conjunction visual foraging tasks, without an explicit value being given. Based on the idea of commodity theory and implicit value, we hypothesized that participants would show a scarcity bias. The bias was investigated using a Bayesian statistical model which has been developed for predicting target-by-target foraging behaviours. However, we found no evidence of a scarcity bias in our experiment, suggesting that participants did not inherently find rarer targets more rewarding.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.240060foragingvisual searchcognitive modelling |
| spellingShingle | A. E. Hughes H. R. Statham A. D. F. Clarke The effect of target scarcity on visual foraging Royal Society Open Science foraging visual search cognitive modelling |
| title | The effect of target scarcity on visual foraging |
| title_full | The effect of target scarcity on visual foraging |
| title_fullStr | The effect of target scarcity on visual foraging |
| title_full_unstemmed | The effect of target scarcity on visual foraging |
| title_short | The effect of target scarcity on visual foraging |
| title_sort | effect of target scarcity on visual foraging |
| topic | foraging visual search cognitive modelling |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.240060 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT aehughes theeffectoftargetscarcityonvisualforaging AT hrstatham theeffectoftargetscarcityonvisualforaging AT adfclarke theeffectoftargetscarcityonvisualforaging AT aehughes effectoftargetscarcityonvisualforaging AT hrstatham effectoftargetscarcityonvisualforaging AT adfclarke effectoftargetscarcityonvisualforaging |