Visual search for colour targets that are or are not linearly separable from distractors.
D'Zmura [(1991) Vision Research, 31, 951-966] reported qualitative differences in visual search rates for a target colour in a background of differently coloured distractors depending on their colour configuration in CIE(x,y) space. A target colour that was chromatically mid-way between the distractor colours resulted in steep search slopes. A target off the distractor-distractor line, "popped out". We replicated his finding in several loci, investigated several potential confounds, and discovered boundary conditions for the phenomenon: for a given target, the effect of collinearity dissipates with increasing distractor-distractor colour difference. Furthermore, within limits, performance was dependent on the target to distractor-line distance.
Bauer
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Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Jolicoeur
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P
Cowan
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WB
D000328:Adult; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011601:Psychophysics