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Abstract

In the present study we tested the extent to which observers use dynamic information to detect targets in natural scenes. For this purpose, we used composite images in which target sequences were superimposed onto distractor sequences. We varied target visibility in the composite sequence, and the presence or absence of motion. Across four experiments, we found a dynamic advantage for target detection: Observers performed more accurately with dynamic than static target
scenes. This advantage depended on the availability of target motion, irrespective of whether the target was upright or inverted in the image plane (Experiments 1-3). The magnitude of this advantage also depended on the availability of
segmentation cues (Experiments 1 and 2) and on the distractors used (Experiments 2 and 4). Overall, the dynamic advantage reported extends previous work using isolated dynamic objects to more complex scenes.