Is Construction Reserved for the Target during Visual Search?

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the possibility, that where there is high similarity between irrelevant and target letters, the irrelevant letter will be constructed to a sufficiently detailed level to be seen. 40 randomly selected second year psychology students each attended a 1-hr. experimental session in which they searched 25 lists, followed by a recognition test. The lists were made up from the upper case letters of the alphabet, and during the recognition test each S was required to indicate how many times each of the irrelevant letters had appeared on the final list searched. Analysis of variance showed a significant recognition frequency effect. The results indicated Neisser's (1967) view, that during visual search construction is reserved for the target, may require modification.