Visual search #2

Question 1

What did Dulcan + Humphrey’s study show?

Answer 1

1989
~ that searches with homogenous distractors are easier than those with heterogeneous distracters
~ similarity between distractor items important for search efficiency

Question 2

Duncan + Humphrey’s theory (5)

Answer 2

~ similarity is key for determining speed of search
~ parallel processing = representation of structural units (colour, size, shape…)
~ for response to occur structural unit needs to access visual short-term memory
~ activity of structural unit = object’s similarity to search
~ units are connected to each other and spread activation e.g. spreading suppression on similar non-targets

Question 3

Top-down control in visual search

Answer 3

telling people what to search for activates top-down processes to interact with bottom-up process = guided search

Question 4

What are the two stages of visual search?

Answer 4

Parallel and serial processing

Question 5

Predictions based on Tresiman’s theory of separation of serial and parallel processes in visual search:

Answer 5

if there is limited opportunity for serial search, then features will not be combined (or combined less accurately)

Question 6

What did the findings surrounding illusory conjunctions support?

Answer 6

~ supports Triesman’s feature integration theory
~ feature extraction occurs automatically and in parallel
~ object recognition requires feature binding

Question 7

Wolfe, Cave and Francis

Answer 7

1989

~ searches within conjunction sets show beneficial parallel processing

Question 8

Wolfe’s guided search model

Answer 8

1994

~ suggests ‘candidate targets’ are selected for serial trials

Question 9

Difference between Duncan + Humphreys and Treisman’s FIT theories

Answer 9

FIT = the features extracted in parallel are primitive components, NOT conjunction
D+H = say conjunction extracted in parallel

Question 10

When searching for a similar target you use…

Answer 10

slow, serial search

Question 11

When searching for a dissimilar target you use…

Answer 11

fast, parallel search

Question 12

Difference between hard and easy distractors

Answer 12

hard distractors contain similar shapes/angles/joints to the target shape, easy distractors do not

Question 13

When searching through similar non-targets you use…

Answer 13

fast, parallel search

Question 14

When searching through dissimilar non-targets you use…

Answer 14

slow, serial search