Goal-directed guidance of attention: Evidence from conjunctive visual search

Author(s): Egeth, H. E.

Journal/Book: J Exp Psychol Hum Percep Perf. 1997; 23: 750 First St NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242. Amer Psychological Assoc. 948-961.

Abstract: Conjunctive visual search is most difficult when distracter types ate in equal proportions and gets easier as the proportions diverge (e.g., E. Zohary & S. Hochstein, 1989). This may reflect restriction of search to the feature shared by the target and the less-frequent distracter. Alternatively, such effects could reflect target salience, which varies with distracter ratio. In 2 experiments, 60 participants searched 64-element displays for a conjunctive target among distracters of 2 types in various proportions. Participants were correctly informed (Experiment 1) or misinformed (Experiment 2) about which distracter type would be less frequent on most trials. In both experiments, the distractor-ratio effect was significantly influenced by the information provided to participants. These findings demonstrate the efficacy of top-down information in guiding attention and show that it can be applied flexibly, weighted toward particular target features.

Note: Article Bacon WF, Columbia Univ, Teachers Coll, Dept Clin Psychol, New York,NY 10027 USA

Keyword(s): GUIDED SEARCH; COLOR; PARALLEL; SERIAL; DISCRIMINATION; SHAPE; MODEL; SIMILARITY; DISPLAYS; LOCATION

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