According to the visual span control hypothesis, eye movements are controll
ed in relation to the size of visual span. In reading, the decrease of cont
rast reduces visual span, saccade sizes, and reading speed. The purpose of
the present study is to determine how stimulus contrast affects the speed o
f two-dimensional visual search and how changes in eye movements and visual
span could explain changes in performance. The task of the observer was to
search for, and identify, an uppercase letter from a rectangular array of
characters in which the other items were numerals. Threshold search time, i
.e. the duration of stimulus presentation required for search that is succe
ssful with a given probability, was determined by using a multiple-alternat
ive staircase method. Eye movements were recorded simultaneously by using a
video eye tracker. Four different set sizes (the sizes of stimulus array)
(3 x 3-10 x 10), and five different contrasts (0.0186-0.412) were used. At
all set sizes, threshold search time decreased with increasing contrast. Al
so the average number of fixations per search decreased with increasing con
trast. At the smallest set size (3 x 3), only one fixation was needed excep
t at the lowest contrast. Average fixation duration decreased and saccade a
mplitudes increased slightly with increasing contrast. The reduction of the
number of fixations with increasing contrast suggests that visual span, i.
e. the area from which information can be collected at one fixation, increa
ses with increasing contrast. The reduction of the number of fixations toge
ther with reduced fixation duration result in reduced search times when con
trast increases. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.