Abstract
Mestry et al. (2017) reported a dual-target cost when searching for two unfamiliar faces relative to search for one. In dual-target search, participants prioritized one target such that search was better with one face than the other. In the current study, we test if prior training with single face targets or dual-target faces influences the efficiency of dual-target face search in a test phase. Participants completed a training phase with sequential blocks of single-target face search for each face or two blocks of dual-target search for both faces. Following training, participants performed dual-target search in a test phase, followed by two short blocks of single-target search (one for each target). The final two blocks allow insight into the short-term influence of dual-target search on subsequent single-target face search. Response times reduced over phases in all conditions. More importantly, with respect to the effect of training condition on dual-target search, while participants in the single-target training condition were faster overall during training than those receiving dual-target training, those trained with dual-target search responded faster in the test phase. With respect to the short-term influence of dual-target search on subsequent single-target search, the mean response times to faces in the test phase were used to determine preferred and non-preferred faces. By definition the preferred faces were responded to faster than the non-preferred faces in the dual-target test phase. However, and importantly, the same effect of face preference was also found in the two short blocks of single-target face search that followed the test phase. We conclude that (1) if dual-target face search is the task you will ultimately be required to perform, then it is better to be trained in dual-target than single-target search, and (2) the prioritization strategy adopted in dual-target face search has implications for subsequent single-target face search.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2018