title: Task specificity and the influence of memory on visual search: comment on Võ and Wolfe (2012).
abstract: Recent results from Võ and Wolfe (2012b) suggest that the application of memory to visual search may be task specific: Previous experience searching for an object facilitated later search for that object, but object information acquired during a different task did not appear to transfer to search. The latter inference depended on evidence that a preview task did not improve later search, but Võ and Wolfe used a relatively insensitive, between-subjects design. Here, we replicated the Võ and Wolfe study using a within-subject manipulation of scene preview. A preview session (focused either on object location memory or on the assessment of object semantics) reliably facilitated later search. In addition, information acquired from distractors in a scene-facilitated search when the distractor later became the target. Instead of being strongly constrained by task, visual memory is applied flexibly to guide attention and gaze during visual search.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, 11 Seashore Hall E, IA City, IA 52242-1407, USA. andrew-hollingworth@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hollingworth
mesh_terms: D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*