Serial and parallel attentive visual searches: evidence from cumulative distribution functions of response times.
Participants searched a visual display for a target among distractors. Each of 3 experiments tested a condition proposed to require attention and for which certain models propose a serial search. Serial versus parallel processing was tested by examining effects on response time means and cumulative distribution functions. In 2 conditions, the results suggested parallel rather than serial processing, even though the tasks produced significant set-size effects. Serial processing was produced only in a condition with a difficult discrimination and a very large set-size effect. The results support C. Bundesen's (1990) claim that an extreme set-size effect leads to serial processing. Implications for parallel models of visual selection are discussed.
Sung
Kyongje
K
Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University.
D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011601:Psychophysics; D011930:Reaction Time; D012691:Serial Learning