Abstract
When object layouts are maintained in visual search, they can be learned and become visual cues for the target (i.e., contextual cueing effect); however, they do not facilitate search performance for an item that is a distractor (Võ & Wolfe, 2012). When pairs of participants search simultaneously, a friend’s target may capture the other’s attention. Therefore, in this study, we examined whether a friend’s target could be identified faster in the learned context even as a distractor. Participants comprised 18 pairs of friends assigned to the joint-no-one’s-target group and to the joint-friend’s-target group, and 18 individuals assigned to the single-no-one’s-target group. In every trial, one exemplar of each target category (i.e., bird, shoe, and tricycle) was shown among unique objects. In the repeated condition, all locations and identities were maintained. In the control condition, only the target locations and identities were maintained. In the learning phase, participants searched for one target category. In the subsequent transfer phase, the joint-no-one’s-target group was instructed to search for the target that no one had searched for, while the joint-friend’s-target group was instructed to search for the friend’s target. The single-no-one’s-target group searched for the target no one had searched for. The results revealed the contextual cueing effect in the learning phase and the transfer phase, with size being comparable across the groups. An exploratory analysis revealed that the greater the effect observed in the learning phase, the greater the effect they exhibited in the transfer phase only in the joint friend’s-target group. This suggests that the learned contexts were utilized when searching for the friend’s former target, and provides preliminary evidence that the friend’s target is attended during a joint visual search.