ERIC Number: EJ965019
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Feb
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0096-1523
EISSN: N/A
Using the Dual-Target Cost to Explore the Nature of Search Target Representations
Stroud, Michael J.; Menneer, Tamaryn; Cave, Kyle R.; Donnelly, Nick
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, v38 n1 p113-122 Feb 2012
Eye movements were monitored to examine search efficiency and infer how color is mentally represented to guide search for multiple targets. Observers located a single color target very efficiently by fixating colors similar to the target. However, simultaneous search for 2 colors produced a dual-target cost. In addition, as the similarity between the 2 target colors decreased, search efficiency suffered, resulting in more fixations on colors dissimilar to both target colors, which we describe as a "split-target cost." The patterns of fixations provide evidence to the type of mental representations guiding search. When the 2 targets are dissimilar, they are apparently encoded as separate and discrete representations. The fixation patterns for more similar targets can be explained with either 2 discrete target representations or a single, unitary range containing the target colors as well as the colors between them in color space. (Contains 8 figures, 1 footnote and 4 tables.)
Descriptors: Evidence, Eye Movements, Search Strategies, Experiments, Geographic Location, Color, Universities, Undergraduate Students, Experimental Psychology, Computer Uses in Education, Research Methodology, Probability
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Massachusetts
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A