A Paper by Dr. Yoshiyuki Ueda and Colleagues has been Published in Acta Psychologica

A research paper by Senior Lecturer Yoshiyuki Ueda, Chifumi Sakata (the first author, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University) and Associate Professor Yusuke Moriguchi (Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University) was published in Acta Psychologica.

Previous studies have shown that when we repeatedly search for a certain single object within a space, we remember visuospatial configuration of the group of objects to which we have directed our attention, namely where they are located. As a result, search time decreases accordingly (called “the contextual cueing effect”).

In our daily lives, we may search for the same or different objects, and we may pay attention to the same or different groups of objects even when we look at the same scene with another person. The influence of this kind of experience on a person’s memory has been unclear.

A research group led by Dr. Ueda, doctoral student Sakata, and Prof. Moriguchi examined two situations using the contextual cueing paradigm of the visuospatial task; 1) pairs of participants simultaneously and jointly searched for the same targets, 2) pairs of participants simultaneously searched for different targets.

Results of the study revealed that when two individuals searched for the same targets, the learning of visuospatial configuration of the attended group of objects was faster than when participants individually searched for the target. On the other hand, there was no difference in accumulating memories when two individuals searched for different targets and when they did alone. This means that the way of storing visuospatial information is different between the joint action and the single situations.

This research was carried out in the Collaborative Cognitive Science Experiment Facilities of the KRC Annex Building.

◇Article Information
Sakata, C., Ueda, Y., & Moriguchi Y. (2021). Learning of spatial configurations of a co-actor’s attended objects in joint visual search. Acta Psychologica, 215. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103274

◇URL of the Paper
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000169182100024X

2021/03/17