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Published on: August 29, 2018
Visual search: efficiency continuum or distinct processes?
N Haslam1, M Porter, L Rothschild
1Department of Psychology, New School for Social Research, New York, New York 10003, USA. haslam@newschool.edu
Abstract:
Whether visual search involves two distinct processes--traditionally referred to as serial and parallel--or a single process operating on a continuum of efficiency or speed, is an issue with a long history in the study of attention. On the basis of the unimodality of search slope distributions in a very large data set, Wolfe (1998) argued for a continuum model. Reanalysis of this data set using statistical procedures more appropriate for adjudicating between continuous and discontinuous models supports the existence of two distinct processes.
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