A Laboratory Simulation of Foraging Behavior: The Effect of Search Rate on the Probability of Detecting Prey

Abstract
In a series of laboratory simulations using humans as model predators, effect of changes in search rate and crypticity on the probability of detecting prey was examined. The subjects searched for a target character (the prey) among an array of background characters displayed on the screen of a small computer. The search rate was controlled by changing the display duration while prey crypticity was varied by changing the background. The results of these experiments provide support for a model previously developed to elucidate the behavior of predators searching for cryptic prey (Gendron and Staddon 1983).