The effect of a visual indicator on rate of visual search: Evidence for processing control (original) (raw)
Abstract
Search rates were estirnated from response latencies in a visual search task of the type used by Atkinson, Holmgren, and Juola (1969), in which a S searches a small set of letters to determine the presence or absence of a predesignated target. Half of the visual displays contained a marker above one of the letters. The marked letter was the only one that had to be checked to determine whether or not the display contained the target. The presence of a marker in a display significantly increased the estimated rate of search, but the data clearly indicated that Ss did not restrict processing to the marked item. Letters in the vicinity of the marker were also processed. These results were interpreted as showing that Ss are able to exercise some degree of control over the search process in this type of task.
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Authors and Affiliations
- University of Maryland, 20742, College Park, Maryland
John E. Holmgren
Additional information
This work is based upon a portion of a doctoral dissertation submitted to Stanford University. The research was carried out under a NIMH Terminal Graduate Fellowship and was supported in part by NASA Grant NGR-05-020-244.
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Holmgren, J.E. The effect of a visual indicator on rate of visual search: Evidence for processing control.Perception & Psychophysics 15, 544–550 (1974). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199300
- Received: 02 July 1973
- Accepted: 28 January 1974
- Issue date: May 1974
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199300