The associated non-targets effect: evidence of nontarget processing at and beyond the level of letter recognition.
In four visual search tasks participants were asked to make a target response if either of two targets was present and to make a nontarget response if neither target was present. Some target-absent displays included only nontarget stimuli or features that never occurred in the same displays as targets, whereas other target-absent displays included nontarget stimuli or features that did sometimes occur with targets. Nontarget responses were reliably faster in the former case than in the latter. This "associated non-targets effect" indicates that non-targets are not simply classified as non-targets but in addition are discriminated from one another. Current visual search models may underestimate the degree to which non-targets are processed during search.
Reynolds
Ann
A
University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. ann@psy.otago.ac.nz
Miller
Jeff
J
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001244:Association; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology