Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Simultaneous Eye Tracking and Single-Neuron Recordings in Human Epilepsy Patients
Published on: June 17, 2019
Visual search in scenes involves selective and nonselective pathways
Jeremy M Wolfe1, Melissa L-H Võ, Karla K Evans
1Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 64 Sidney St. Suite 170, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. wolfe@search.bwh.harvard.edu
Abstract:
How does one find objects in scenes? For decades, visual search models have been built on experiments in which observers search for targets, presented among distractor items, isolated and randomly arranged on blank backgrounds. Are these models relevant to search in continuous scenes? This article argues that the mechanisms that govern artificial, laboratory search tasks do play a role in visual search in scenes. However, scene-based information is used to guide search in ways that had no place in earlier models. Search in scenes might be best explained by a dual-path model: a 'selective' path in which candidate objects must be individually selected for recognition and a 'nonselective' path in which information can be extracted from global and/or statistical information.
Related Concept Videos
Visual System
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...
Vision
Parallel Processing
Color Vision
Anatomy of the Eyeball
Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex.

