Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

This article reports evidence that parallel search functions can occur when heterogeneous conjunction elements configure into a single object description. Experiment 1 demonstrates parallel search for form conjunctions presented in displays of heterogenous nontargets when closure and good continuation between display elements are exhibited. When closure and good continuation are absent, reaction times increase linearly with set size (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 demonstrates a halfway stage between these two extremes, in which displays have closure but not good continuation. Finally, selection of object descriptions is shown to be temporally limited to one object at a time (Experiment 4). The data are incompatible with both local feature-based and distractor similarity-based accounts of visual search; however, they are compatible with there being an important role for preattentive feature combinations forming primitive object desciptions. Parallel search functions can occur when heterogeneous conjunctions configure into a single object desciption.

Original publication

DOI

10.1037/0096-1523.17.2.561

Type

Journal article

Journal

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance

Publication Date

01/05/1991

Volume

17

Pages

561 - 570