Cognitive Components of Small and Large-Scale Foraging Behaviour

There are debates in the literature regarding the cognitive processes involved in search, within small-scale environments, as per visual search, and in large-scale environments, more akin to foraging. My thesis aims to shed light on some of the similarities and differences between search tasks implemented in small-scale 2D displays and 3D virtual reality settings, simulating larger environments. In reference to these notions, my research investigated three core questions: are visual search and foraging the same or different constructs, are templates held in working memory singularly or simultaneously, and what determines our search behaviour. The current research found that when implementing similar tasks in visual search (via 2D small-scale environment) and foraging (via 3D large-scale environment), significant differences were observed in terms of cognitive requirements, task difficulty, and influences on search strategies. Active mental templates during search can be maintained and utilised simultaneously – with greater incentives do so depending on task demands. My study also revealed that for factors which affect search decisions, stimulus distance is a more influential factor for search strategies compared to the “speed” of the searcher. As for the impact of individual differences (via bilingualism), bilingual individuals exhibited a greater proficiency in implementing advantageous (efficiency-boosting) search strategies, without sacrificing the accuracy of their selections – attributed to enhanced inhibitory control (in comparison to monolingual individuals).