Visual attention and memory in professional traders
Abstract Professional traders need to process a large amount of visual information in their daily activity to judge how risky it is to trade specific investment products. Despite some studies investigating the effects of display clutter on traders, visual attention and memory were never investigated...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2023-11-01
|
| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-46905-3 |
| _version_ | 1797559618987098112 |
|---|---|
| author | Francesco Bossi Andrea P. Malizia Sonia D’Arcangelo Francesca Maggi Nicola Lattanzi Emiliano Ricciardi |
| author_facet | Francesco Bossi Andrea P. Malizia Sonia D’Arcangelo Francesca Maggi Nicola Lattanzi Emiliano Ricciardi |
| author_sort | Francesco Bossi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Professional traders need to process a large amount of visual information in their daily activity to judge how risky it is to trade specific investment products. Despite some studies investigating the effects of display clutter on traders, visual attention and memory were never investigated in controlled experimental tasks in this population. Following a preliminary study with 30 participants, visual selective attention and visual working memory were measured and compared between two groups of 15 traders and 15 non-traders (salespeople, acting as a control group) from a large-scale banking group in three experimental tasks measuring selective attention in complex visual contexts, simulating display clutter situations (Visual search), cognitive interference (Stroop task), and a delayed recall visual working memory task. In the Visual search task, traders displayed faster response times (RTs) than non-traders for small display sets, while their performance overlapped for large sets. In the Stroop task, traders showed faster RTs than non-traders but were nevertheless affected by cognitive interference. The memory task highlighted no significant differences between the groups. Therefore, this study found an advantage in traders’ attention when processing visual information in small sets with no retention. This result could influence trading activity—determining an immediate use of relevant visual information in decision making—and traders’ display layout organization. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:47:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-681baa0054e449d291310b65443642f5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:47:52Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-681baa0054e449d291310b65443642f52023-11-20T09:27:57ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-11-011311910.1038/s41598-023-46905-3Visual attention and memory in professional tradersFrancesco Bossi0Andrea P. Malizia1Sonia D’Arcangelo2Francesca Maggi3Nicola Lattanzi4Emiliano Ricciardi5MoMiLab Research Unit, IMT School for Advanced Studies LuccaMoMiLab Research Unit, IMT School for Advanced Studies LuccaNeuroscience Lab, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center SpANeuroscience Lab, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center SpAAxes Research Unit, IMT School for Advanced Studies LuccaMoMiLab Research Unit, IMT School for Advanced Studies LuccaAbstract Professional traders need to process a large amount of visual information in their daily activity to judge how risky it is to trade specific investment products. Despite some studies investigating the effects of display clutter on traders, visual attention and memory were never investigated in controlled experimental tasks in this population. Following a preliminary study with 30 participants, visual selective attention and visual working memory were measured and compared between two groups of 15 traders and 15 non-traders (salespeople, acting as a control group) from a large-scale banking group in three experimental tasks measuring selective attention in complex visual contexts, simulating display clutter situations (Visual search), cognitive interference (Stroop task), and a delayed recall visual working memory task. In the Visual search task, traders displayed faster response times (RTs) than non-traders for small display sets, while their performance overlapped for large sets. In the Stroop task, traders showed faster RTs than non-traders but were nevertheless affected by cognitive interference. The memory task highlighted no significant differences between the groups. Therefore, this study found an advantage in traders’ attention when processing visual information in small sets with no retention. This result could influence trading activity—determining an immediate use of relevant visual information in decision making—and traders’ display layout organization.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-46905-3 |
| spellingShingle | Francesco Bossi Andrea P. Malizia Sonia D’Arcangelo Francesca Maggi Nicola Lattanzi Emiliano Ricciardi Visual attention and memory in professional traders Scientific Reports |
| title | Visual attention and memory in professional traders |
| title_full | Visual attention and memory in professional traders |
| title_fullStr | Visual attention and memory in professional traders |
| title_full_unstemmed | Visual attention and memory in professional traders |
| title_short | Visual attention and memory in professional traders |
| title_sort | visual attention and memory in professional traders |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-46905-3 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT francescobossi visualattentionandmemoryinprofessionaltraders AT andreapmalizia visualattentionandmemoryinprofessionaltraders AT soniadarcangelo visualattentionandmemoryinprofessionaltraders AT francescamaggi visualattentionandmemoryinprofessionaltraders AT nicolalattanzi visualattentionandmemoryinprofessionaltraders AT emilianoricciardi visualattentionandmemoryinprofessionaltraders |