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| Research article summary (published 29 Sep 2002): |
Serial attention mechanisms in visual search: a direct behavioral demonstration.
Full Abstract
In visual search, inefficient performance of human observers is typically characterized by a steady increase in reaction time with the number of array elements-the so-called set-size effect. In general, set-size effects are taken to indicate that processing of the array elements depends on limited-capacity resources, that is, it involves attention. Contrasting theories have been proposed to account for this attentional involvement, however. While some theories have attributed set-size effects to the intervention of serial attention mechanisms, others have explained set-size effects in terms of parallel, competitive architectures. Conclusive evidence in favor of one or the other notion is still lacking. Especially in view of the wide use of visual search paradigms to explore the functional neuroanatomy of attentional mechanisms in the primate brain, it becomes essential that the nature of the attentional involvement in these paradigms be clearly defined at the behavioral level. Here we report a series of experiments showing that highly inefficient search indeed recruits serial attention deployment to the individual array elements. In addition, we describe a number of behavioral signatures of serial attention in visual search that can be used in future investigations to attest a similar involvement of serial attention in other search paradigms. We claim that only after having recognized these signatures can one be confident that truly serial mechanisms are engaged in a given visual search task, thus making it amenable for exploring the functional neuroanatomy underlying its performance.
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Author information
Author/s: Bricolo, Emanuela (E); Gianesini, Tiziana (T); Fanini, Alessandra (A); Bundesen, Claus (C); Chelazzi, Leonardo (L);
Affiliation: University of Verona, Italy.
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Journal: Journal of cognitive neuroscience (J Cogn Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2002-Oct; vol 14 (issue 7) : pp 980-93
Dates: Created 2002/11/06; Completed 2002/12/31; Revised 2006/11/15;
PMID: 12419123, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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