Evaluating Preattentive Processing in Game Settings with Consistent Visual Scenes

Ilir Jusufi, Niclas Andersson

2025

Abstract

Preattentive processing refers to the human brain’s ability to rapidly detect specific visual features before conscious awareness. This study evaluates the effectiveness of preattentive processing in identifying objects with distinct features—motion, color, and shape—within controlled 3D game-like environments. Participants were shown a series of short game runs, each containing an object designed with one of these preattentive attributes, and were tasked with identifying these objects within a 250-millisecond window, the time frame optimal for preattentive processing. To minimize confounding variables, the visual complexity of the scenes was kept consistent, ensuring a uniform look and feel across trials. Results reveal that motion and color are highly effective in guiding attention, with participants achieving near-perfect accuracy. In contrast, shape detection was notably less accurate, with greater variability in responses, suggesting that shape may be less effective as a preattentive feature in visually dense 3D environments. Additionally, participants with gaming experience demonstrated better performance in shape-based tasks, hinting at the influence of prior visual processing experience. These findings contribute to understanding how visual complexity and uniformity impact preattentive processing in digital environments, with practical implications for designing visual tasks, game environments, and interfaces that guide user attention more effectively.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Jusufi I. and Andersson N. (2025). Evaluating Preattentive Processing in Game Settings with Consistent Visual Scenes. In Proceedings of the 20th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: HUCAPP; ISBN 978-989-758-728-3, SciTePress, pages 464-471. DOI: 10.5220/0013128700003912

in Bibtex Style

@conference{hucapp25,
author={Ilir Jusufi and Niclas Andersson},
title={Evaluating Preattentive Processing in Game Settings with Consistent Visual Scenes},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 20th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: HUCAPP},
year={2025},
pages={464-471},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013128700003912},
isbn={978-989-758-728-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 20th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications - Volume 1: HUCAPP
TI - Evaluating Preattentive Processing in Game Settings with Consistent Visual Scenes
SN - 978-989-758-728-3
AU - Jusufi I.
AU - Andersson N.
PY - 2025
SP - 464
EP - 471
DO - 10.5220/0013128700003912
PB - SciTePress