Deadeye: A Novel Preattentive Visualization Technique Based on Dichoptic Presentation

TL;DR

Deadeye is a new binocular visual technique that uses dichoptic presentation to make objects instantly detectable without altering their visual properties, enhancing visualization effectiveness.

Contribution

It introduces Deadeye, a novel preattentive visualization method leveraging binocular disparity, distinct from existing cues that modify visual features.

Findings

Deadeye is perceived preattentively by users.

The technique allows rapid detection of target objects.

Conjunction searches with Deadeye are processed serially, not in parallel.

Abstract

Preattentive visual features such as hue or flickering can effectively draw attention to an object of interest -- for instance, an important feature in a scientific visualization. These features appear to pop out and can be recognized by our visual system, independently from the number of distractors. Most cues do not take advantage of the fact that most humans have two eyes. In cases where binocular vision is applied, it is almost exclusively used to convey depth by exposing stereo pairs. We present Deadeye, a novel preattentive visualization technique based on presenting different stimuli to each eye. The target object is rendered for one eye only and is instantly detected by our visual system. In contrast to existing cues, Deadeye does not modify any visual properties of the target and, thus, is particularly suited for visualization applications. Our evaluation confirms that Deadeye is indeed perceived preattentively. We also explore a conjunction search based on our technique and show that, in contrast to 3D depth, the task cannot be processed in parallel.