Logo image
Task specificity and the influence of memory on visual search: comment on Võ and Wolfe (2012)
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Task specificity and the influence of memory on visual search: comment on Võ and Wolfe (2012)

Andrew Hollingworth
Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance, Vol.38(6), pp.1596-1603
12/2012
DOI: 10.1037/a0030237
PMCID: PMC3515208
PMID: 23205947

View Online

Abstract

Recent results from Võ and Wolfe (2012b) suggest that the application of memory to visual search may be task specific: Previous experience searching for an object facilitated later search for that object, but object information acquired during a different task did not appear to transfer to search. The latter inference depended on evidence that a preview task did not improve later search, but Võ and Wolfe used a relatively insensitive, between-subjects design. Here, we replicated the Võ and Wolfe study using a within-subject manipulation of scene preview. A preview session (focused either on object location memory or on the assessment of object semantics) reliably facilitated later search. In addition, information acquired from distractors in a scene-facilitated search when the distractor later became the target. Instead of being strongly constrained by task, visual memory is applied flexibly to guide attention and gaze during visual search.
Eye Movements - physiology Female Humans Learning - physiology Male Memory, Episodic Space Perception - physiology Visual Perception - physiology

Details

Metrics

Logo image