An Investigation of Attentional and Inhibitory Processes During Active Visual Search in Humans

Part of paid clinical trials in Denver, Colorado.

Sponsor
University of Colorado, Denver
Study ID
NCT06587113
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Attention
  • Executive Function
  • Eye Movements

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - 65 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Contour Search Task — OTHER
    In this task, participants sit in front of a computer screen with their head in a chinrest to control for distance from the monitor and eye-tracking equipment. For the visual search task, participants will search for a visual target among distractors and make a response regarding its orientation. The target is defined by a contour formed through oriented Gabor patches.
  • Stop signal Task — BEHAVIORAL
    In this task, participants sit in front of a computer screen with their head in a chinrest to control for distance from the monitor and eye-tracking equipment. For the stop-signal task, participants will make an eye movement to a target that appears on the screen, except on trials where a visual signal appears indicating they should cancel this behavior.
  • Useful field of View — BEHAVIORAL
    In this task, participants sit in front of a computer screen with their head in a chinrest to control for distance from the monitor and eye-tracking equipment. In the useful field of view task, participants will report the location of a briefly-presented and masked target, while also responding to the identify of a central target in some blocks.
  • Attentional capture search task — BEHAVIORAL
    In this task, participants sit in front of a computer screen with their head in a chinrest to control for distance from the monitor and eye-tracking equipment. For this visual search task, participants will search for a visual target among distractors and make a response regarding its orientation. The target is defined as a unique shape, and is sometimes shown with a salient distractor.

Study Details

The goal of this study is to investigate the finding that there are large individual differences in how participants move their eyes during active visual search. For example, some individuals tend to fixate, that is point their eyes steadily at a single location, for longer than other individuals before moving to another location. This experiment will use behavioral tasks to measure an individual's attentional and inhibitory functioning, and then see how each of these contributes to between-participant variability in eye movement behavior during visual search.

Key Dates

Start date
Sep 15, 2024
Status verified
Feb 2026
Primary completion
May 15, 2026
Completion
May 15, 2026

Study Design

Enrollment
225 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

  • Experimental: Study Group Contour Search
    This study examines eye movement behavior using eye-tracking technology. Healthy participants perform three different tasks, including a visual search task, a stop-signal task, and a useful field of view task. Behavioral performance and eye movements are recorded for all tasks.
  • Experimental: Study Group Attentional Capture
    This study examines eye movement behavior using eye-tracking technology. Healthy participants perform three different tasks, including a visual search task emphasizing distraction, a stop-signal task, and a useful field of view task. Behavioral performance and eye movements are recorded for all tasks.

Primary Outcome Measure

First fixation duration during visual search [ Time Frame: During visual search task ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
University of Colorado DenverDenverColorado80123
Associate Professor, PhD
[email protected]
303-315-7068
Ryan V Ringer, PhD
[email protected]

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By research site
University of Colorado Denver· Denver, CO

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