Getting satisfied with "satisfaction of search": How to measure errors during multiple-target visual search.

Visual search studies are common in cognitive psychology, and the results generally focus upon accuracy, response times, or both. Most research has focused upon search scenarios where no more than 1 target will be present for any single trial. However, if multiple targets can be present on a single trial, it introduces an additional source of error because the found target can interfere with subsequent search performance. These errors have been studied thoroughly in radiology for decades, although their emphasis in cognitive psychology studies has been more recent. One particular issue with multiple-target search is that these subsequent search errors (i.e., specific errors which occur following a found target) are measured differently by different studies. There is currently no guidance as to which measurement method is best or what impact different measurement methods could have upon various results and conclusions. The current investigation provides two efforts to address these issues. First, the existing literature is reviewed to clarify the appropriate scenarios where subsequent search errors could be observed. Second, several different measurement methods are used with several existing datasets to contrast and compare how each method would have affected the results and conclusions of those studies. The evidence is then used to provide appropriate guidelines for measuring multiple-target search errors in future studies.