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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Pattern-based Search of Epigenomic Data Using GeNemo
Published on: October 8, 2017
On the speed of pop-out in feature search
Massimo Turatto1, Matteo Valsecchi, Adriane E Seiffert
1Department of Cognitive Sciences and Education, University of Trento, Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, Rovereto, TN, Italy. massimo.turatto@unitn.it
Abstract:
When something unique is present in a scene, this element may become immediately visible and one has the impression that it pops out from the scene. This phenomenon, known as pop-out in the visual search literature, is thought to produce the fastest search possible, and response times for the detection of the pop-out target do not vary as a function of the number of nontargets. In this study, we challenge this notion and show that the detection of a given visual feature is faster for multiple targets than for a single pop-out target. However, when the task requires a detailed target analysis, the pop-out condition can be faster than the multiple-target condition. Current models of visual search are discussed in light of the findings.
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