Visual search and visual lobe size: Can training on one affect the other?

Three experiments were conducted to explore the transfer of training between visual lobe measurement tasks and visual search tasks. Experiment 1 showed positive transfer of visual lobe and search tasks to a criterion visual lobe task. Experiment 2 demonstrated that lobe practice improved the visual lobe, which in turn resulted in improved search performance. In the third experiment, the transfer between different target types and sets was explored on a simulated aircraft inspection task. Lobe training on a fault transferred to search for other faults within the same set, but not greatly between sets. The implication is that visual lobe practice on carefully chosen targets can provide an effective training strategy in visual search and inspection.Relevance to industryResults obtained from this research will help us in devising superior training strategies for a whole range of tasks that have a visual search component (e.g., industrial inspection, military target acquisition). Use of these training strategies will ultimately lead to superior search performance. Copyright © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V.