Eye-guidance during scene search: The role color plays in central and peripheral vision

How does the availability of color across the visual field facilitate gaze during real-world search? To answer this question, the presence of color in central or peripheral vision was manipulated using a 5deg gaze-contingent window that followed participants’ gaze. Accordingly, scenes were presented in full color (C), grey in central vision and colored in peripheral vision (G-C), colored in central vision and grey in peripheral vision (C-G), and in grey (G). The color conditions were crossed with a manipulation of the search cue: the search object was cued either with a word label or a picture of the target. Across color conditions, search was faster during target template guided search. Search time costs were observed in the C-G and G conditions, highlighting the importance of color in peripheral vision. In addition, a gaze-data based decomposition of search time revealed color-mediated effects on specific sub-processes of search. When color was not available in peripheral vision, it took longer to initiate search, and to locate the search object in the scene. When color was not available in central vision, however, the process of verifying the identity of the target was prolonged. In conclusion, color-information in peripheral vision facilitates saccade target selection.