Although the role of memory in visual search is debatable, most researchers agree with a limited-capacity model of memory in visual search. The authors demonstrate the role of memory by replicating previous findings showing that visual search is biased away from old items (previously examined items) and toward new items (nonexamined items).…

The authors present 10 experiments that challenge some central assumptions of the dominant theories of visual search. Their results reveal that the complexity (or redundancy) of nontarget items is a crucial but overlooked determinant of search efficiency. The authors offer a new theoretical outline that emphasizes the importance of nontarget…

Changes to a scene often go unnoticed if the objects of the change are unattended, making change detection an index of where attention is focused during scene perception. We measured change detection in school-age children and young adults by repeatedly alternating two versions of an image. To provide an age-fair assessment we used a bimanual…

The purpose of this study was to determine the sources of visual information used by highly skilled tennis players in anticipating their opponent's shots. In Experiment 1, motion analysis of the strokes showed that the relative motion between the racquet and forearm was different between the ground strokes and lobs, but there were no reliable…

In order to discover reader reactions to color on a newspaper page, specifically eye movement and overall opinion of the paper, identical pages were created and printed by the "St. Petersburg Times" (Florida). The content of fifteen front pages, six lifestyles pages, and three sports front pages were nearly identical, differing only in the kind…

A study examined the expectation that videotaped male models would be rated similarly to ratings previously found in research literature for red, blue, and monotone hues, and high, medium, and low levels of color saturation. Using a Graeco-Latin Square design, the ratings of 147 subjects (communications students at the University of Utah) were…

This work investigates, first, whether the integration of color and shape information is affected by attending to the stimulus location, and second, whether attending to a stimulus location enhances the perceptual representation of the stimulus or merely affects decision processes. In three experiments, subjects were briefly presented with colored…

The processing of mental structures in perception appears to be serial, in that viewers can fill in missing parts from an impoverished stimulus following a top down process. To investigate the effects of unfamiliarity, complexity, and legibility on object and layout perception of unfamiliar stimuli, ten subjects were shown one of four ribbon…

This study considered two questions about infants' perception of affective expressions: (1) Can infants distinguish between happiness and anger on the basis of facial motion information alone? (2) Can infants detect a correspondence between happy and angry facial and vocal expressions by different people? A total of 40 infants of 7 months of age…

The significance of spatial factors on an initial segmentation and an active attentional phase was demonstrated by briefly exposing spatial configurations of elements, and then asking the subjects to reproduce the patterns or to search them for a target letter. The stimulus displays consisted of small o's forming different spatial configurations,…

The theory is developed and contrasted with other theories of pattern recognition in which concepts such as stimulus generalization, tuned detectors, and preprocessing play major roles. A relation of this theory to problems encountered among disabled readers ("dyslexics") is also brought out. (Author/BJG)

In a visual recognition masking experiment, a target stimulus to be identified is either preceded or followed by a second stimulus called a masking stimulus. The experiments described here provide estimates of both developmental and aging differences in visual backward masking under conditions which maximize interference in the central visual…

Visual field theory was examined insofar as television viewers' perception, retention, and preference for still visual images were concerned. The purpose of the experimental investigation was to determine whether the specific shapes, colors, and placement of visuals within a picture frame affected viewers' abilities to perceive, describe, and…

INJURY TO THE NERVOUS SYSTEM CAN RESULT IN DEFECTS OF FIGURE FORMATION SUCH AS LACK OF PRECISION OF FIGURE AND UNCERTAINTY AS TO WHICH IS FIGURE AND WHICH IS GROUND. IMPAIRMENT OF FIGURE GROUND PROCESSES MAY BE LIMITED TO ONE AREA OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM FUNCTION. DISTURBANCE IN FIGURE FORMATION MAY NOT RESULT IN PERCEPTION DISTURBANCES, DEPENDING…

This experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that subjects must know the length of the viewing matter they will be scanning before the target is presented in order to scan efficiently. Adult subjects were required to scan visually for a predetermined item. Targets were one, two, or four letters in length and the pairs of slides shown on…