The repeated-measures ANOVA with vision (control, scotoma, tunnel) as between-subjects factor, and configuration (repeated, novel) and epoch
1–3 as within-subject factors on log-transformed RT to account for the large baseline differences between vision groups (
Fig. 2) revealed a significant main effect of vision (
F[2, 57] = 4.50,
P < 0.05, η
2P = 0.136, η
2G = 0.134), reflecting significantly longer search times with central scotoma simulation (2913 ms) than in the full vision group (1016 ms,
P < 0.05). There was a nonsignificant trend towards longer search times in the tunnel vision group compared to controls (1860 ms,
P = 0.08) and search time was not significantly different in the artificial vision groups (
P = 0.43). Moreover, significant main effects for epoch (
F[2, 114] = 41.96,
P < 0.001, η
2P = 0.424, η
2G = 0.007) and configuration (
F[1 ,57] = 32.23,
P < 0.001, η
2P = 0.361, η
2G = 0.004) were observed, indicating faster search over time as well as faster search in repeated (1813 ms) compared with novel displays (2048 ms). The epoch by configuration interaction was significant as well (
F[2, 114] = 2.26,
P < .01, η
2P = 0.109, η
2G = 0.001), indicating that contextual cueing developed over time (131, 264, and 312 ms in first, second, and third epochs, respectively; see
Table 1). Crucially, the other interactions containing the factor vision were not significant (all
Fs < 0.90,
Ps > 0.46, η
2P < 0.031, η
2G < 0.001), indicating that the contextual cueing effect and its development was comparable between vision groups.
The results of the repeated measures ANOVAs on gaze parameters are summarized in
Table 2 and the mean differences between repeated and novel configurations can be found in
Table 1. All gaze parameters indicated the complicated search with the gaze-contingent simulations as indicated by the significant main effects of vision. The number of fixations (
F[2, 56] = 46.94,
P < 0.001, η
2P = 0.626, η
2G = 0.467) was significantly increased in the scotoma (7.87 fixations) and tunnel vision groups (6.80 fixations) compared with the control group (3.60 fixations,
Ps < 0.001) and the scotoma simulation also led to significantly more fixations than the tunnel simulation (
P < 0.05). The scan pattern ratio (
F[2, 56] = 52.71,
P < 0.001, η
2P = 0.653, η
2G = 0.425) was significantly impaired by the simulated scotoma (7.55) compared with controls (1.28,
P < 0.001) and tunnel vision (1.73,
P < 0.001) while the efficiency of scan paths was comparable between controls and tunnel vision (
P = 0.51). The onset of the monotonic path (
F[2, 56] = 53.86,
P < 0.001, η
2P = 0.658, η
2G = 0.482) was significantly delayed by the scotoma (7.15 fixations) and tunnel vision groups (5.14 fixations) compared with controls (2.64 fixations,
Ps < 0.001), and the scotoma simulation also delayed the onset more than the tunnel simulation (
P < 0.001).
The effects of contextual cueing were most prominent in the number of fixations as indicated by a significant main effect of configuration (F[1, 56] = 19.93, P < 0.001, η2P = 0.263, η2G = 0.043), reflecting a reduced number of fixations in repeated (5.66) compared to novel configurations (6.49), a significant main effect of epoch (F[2, 112] = 16.38, P < 0.001, η2P = 0.226, η2G = 0.049) reflecting overall improvement over time, and a non-significant trend in the configuration by epoch interaction (F[2, 112] = 2.89, P = 0.06, η2P = 0.049, η2G = 0.009). Similarly, contextual cueing was indicated by the significant main effect of configuration (F[1, 56] = 14.00, P < 0.001, η2P = 0.200, η2G = 0.032) in the onset of the monotonic path, reflected by an earlier onset of the monotonic path in repeated (4.62 fixations) compared with novel configurations (5.33 fixations) and a non-significant trend of the main effect configuration in the scan pattern ratios (F[1, 56] = 3.17, P = 0.08, η2P = 0.054, η2G = 0.012). None of the interactions containing vision group reached significance (all Fs < 2.34, Ps > 0.10, η2P < 0.078, η2G < 0.010), indicating that contextual cueing, when observable in the gaze patters, did not differ between vision groups.