Visual Search

I have been a participant in many research studies before, but this was the first time that I participated in one using a neuroscientific approach. 

I participated in a two-part visual search study conducted by the Stephen Mitroff lab. On the first day, I gave my experimenter a saliva sample and answered a series of questionnaires asking about the last time I had drunk caffeine or taken any medications. One can only assume that this was because they were conducting some sort of study analyzing hormones. In addition, I answered a multitude of questions evaluating my personality traits, preferences, emotions and temperament, hobbies and interests, and judgments about society. In the second portion of the study, I had to take an eye test which makes sense given that I had to take part in visual searches. I performed a series of visual search tasks involving colors, direction of lines, math, and letters. The study involved four blocks each of four different tasks, and though it was very long, I was given moments to rest my eyes. Though I am not sure what the actual point of the study was, I had a lot of fun! 

I have been interested in visual perception since I took the “Perception in the Brain” course last spring. As a research project for that class, I created my own visual search task akin to the one in the image above. Participants searched for a target letter 'T' amidst distracting 'L' shapes. However, there are many different kinds of visual searches examining the efficiency of our visual perception system. In this case, the experimenters seemed to be examining visual perception in conjunction with personality. I am eager to see what the results of this experiment will be!