Prevalence effect in haptic search

In visual search tasks, the ratio of target-present to target-absent trials has important effects on miss rates. In this study, we examined whether the target prevalence effect occurs in a haptic search task by using artificial tactile maps. The results indicated that target prevalence has effects on miss rates, sensitivity, and criterion. Moreover, an increase in miss rates in the low-prevalence condition (10%) was strongly correlated with a decrease in search termination times (target-absent reaction times). These results suggest that the prevalence effect on haptic search is caused by a decrease in the search termination time and a shift in decision criterion and a decrease in sensitivity.