Assessing the benefits of stereoscopic displays to visual search: methodology and initial findings

Hayward Godwin, Nicolas Steven Holliman, Tamaryn Menneer, Simon Liversedge, Kyle Cave, Nick Donnelly

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

Visual search is a task that is carried out in a number of important security and health related scenarios (e.g., X-ray baggage screening, radiography). With recent and ongoing developments in the technology available to present images to observers in stereoscopic depth, there has been increasing interest in assessing whether depth information can be used in complex search tasks to improve search performance. Here we outline the methodology that we developed, along with both software and hardware information, in order to assess visual search performance in complex, overlapping stimuli that also contained depth information. In doing so, our goal is to foster further research along these lines in the future. We also provide an overview with initial results of the experiments that we have conducted involving participants searching stimuli that contain overlapping objects presented on different depth planes to one another. Thus far, we have found that depth information does improve the speed (but not accuracy) of search, but only when the stimuli are highly complex and contain a significant degree of overlap. Depth information may therefore aid real-world search tasks that involve the examination of complex, overlapping stimuli.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages11
Publication statusAccepted/In press - 8 Feb 2015
EventStereoscopic Displays and Applications XVI - San Francisco, United States
Duration: 9 Feb 201511 Feb 2015

Conference

ConferenceStereoscopic Displays and Applications XVI
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Francisco
Period9/02/1511/02/15

Keywords

  • visual search, overlap, stereoscopic displays

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