The effect of background clutter on visual search in video conferencing
Abstract The use of video conferencing tools has become increasingly common recently. The visual displays in these tools are highly complex, being composed of multiple faces with varying image quality and lighting conditions. On top of this, users have the ability to choose their own backgrounds. So...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Cognitive Research |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-025-00643-4 |
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| author | Yelda Semizer Ruth Rosenholtz |
| author_facet | Yelda Semizer Ruth Rosenholtz |
| author_sort | Yelda Semizer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The use of video conferencing tools has become increasingly common recently. The visual displays in these tools are highly complex, being composed of multiple faces with varying image quality and lighting conditions. On top of this, users have the ability to choose their own backgrounds. Some choose simple artificial backgrounds, some appear in front of a real or simulated room, and some use something more abstract. How do these choices affect the user’s ability to use the tool, for example, finding the current speaker or a reaction symbol? Vision science can certainly provide answers to these questions; however, most search studies use simple displays with a uniform background, or more recently, real-world scenes. How does what we know about search generalize to these more complex displays? The current study sought to examine how our understanding of visual search applies to well-controlled video conferencing displays. Specifically, we investigated the effect of display clutter (i.e., background complexity and variability) on perceptual tasks relevant for video conferencing. In an eye-tracking set-up, participants searched either for the speaker whose image was highlighted (Experiment 1) or for a reaction symbol (raised-hand) embedded on one of the attendees’ background. Results showed a significant effect of background complexity and variability, suggesting that search performance declined as the display clutter increased. Image-based analysis showed that the choice of backgrounds mediated these effects, suggesting that some virtual backgrounds were not optimal for perceptual processes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-61aae9dd13d24eec953b34bbe73192e1 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2365-7464 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cognitive Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-61aae9dd13d24eec953b34bbe73192e12025-08-20T03:04:15ZengSpringerOpenCognitive Research2365-74642025-07-0110111610.1186/s41235-025-00643-4The effect of background clutter on visual search in video conferencingYelda Semizer0Ruth Rosenholtz1Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, New Jersey Institute of TechnologyNVIDIAAbstract The use of video conferencing tools has become increasingly common recently. The visual displays in these tools are highly complex, being composed of multiple faces with varying image quality and lighting conditions. On top of this, users have the ability to choose their own backgrounds. Some choose simple artificial backgrounds, some appear in front of a real or simulated room, and some use something more abstract. How do these choices affect the user’s ability to use the tool, for example, finding the current speaker or a reaction symbol? Vision science can certainly provide answers to these questions; however, most search studies use simple displays with a uniform background, or more recently, real-world scenes. How does what we know about search generalize to these more complex displays? The current study sought to examine how our understanding of visual search applies to well-controlled video conferencing displays. Specifically, we investigated the effect of display clutter (i.e., background complexity and variability) on perceptual tasks relevant for video conferencing. In an eye-tracking set-up, participants searched either for the speaker whose image was highlighted (Experiment 1) or for a reaction symbol (raised-hand) embedded on one of the attendees’ background. Results showed a significant effect of background complexity and variability, suggesting that search performance declined as the display clutter increased. Image-based analysis showed that the choice of backgrounds mediated these effects, suggesting that some virtual backgrounds were not optimal for perceptual processes.https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-025-00643-4Visual searchVisual clutterVideo conferencing |
| spellingShingle | Yelda Semizer Ruth Rosenholtz The effect of background clutter on visual search in video conferencing Cognitive Research Visual search Visual clutter Video conferencing |
| title | The effect of background clutter on visual search in video conferencing |
| title_full | The effect of background clutter on visual search in video conferencing |
| title_fullStr | The effect of background clutter on visual search in video conferencing |
| title_full_unstemmed | The effect of background clutter on visual search in video conferencing |
| title_short | The effect of background clutter on visual search in video conferencing |
| title_sort | effect of background clutter on visual search in video conferencing |
| topic | Visual search Visual clutter Video conferencing |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-025-00643-4 |
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