One factor to bind them all: visual foraging organization to predict patch leaving behavior with ROC curves

Predicting quitting rules is critical in visual search: Did I search enough for a cancer nodule in a breast X-ray or a threat in a baggage airport scanner? This study examines the predictive power of search organization indexes like best-r, mean ITD, PAO, or intersection rates as optimal criteria to...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Bella Fernández, Marcos, Suero Suñe, Manuel, Ferrer Mendieta, Alicia, Gil Gómez de Liaño, Beatriz
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad Loyola Andalucía
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:biblosearchi::d8f93bcf33dcb47f5904f5bc857c160e
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10486/767443
https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41235-025-00624-7
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Visual foraging
Optimal foraging theory
Organization
ROC curves
Composite variables
Psicología
Descripción
Sumario:Predicting quitting rules is critical in visual search: Did I search enough for a cancer nodule in a breast X-ray or a threat in a baggage airport scanner? This study examines the predictive power of search organization indexes like best-r, mean ITD, PAO, or intersection rates as optimal criteria to leave a search in foraging (looking for several targets among distractors). In a sample of 29 adults, we compared static and dynamic foraging. Also, we reanalyze data from diverse foraging tasks in the lifespan already published to replicate results. Using ROC curves, all results consistently show that organization measures outperform classic intake rates commonly used in animal models to predict optimal human quitting behavior. Importantly, a combination of organization and traditional intake rates within a unitary factor is the best predictor. Our findings open a new research line for studying optimal decisions in visual search tasks based on search organization