Abstract
Observers searched for a horizontal line segment through displays containing varying numbers of elements differing from the target and from each other in terms of orientation. These elements were always positioned on imaginary concentric circles centered in the middle of the display. They were allocated to these positions either randomly or in such a way that their orientation was equal to that of the tangent to the circle at that position. The search for the target line appeared to proceed spatially in parallel with the latter class of displays, and serially with the former. These findings are explained and discussed within the context of the attentive-preattentive dichotomy that characterizes spatial vision.
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The research presented in this article was supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and by a grant from the Connaught Fund.
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Moraglia, G. Display organization and the detection of horizontal line segments. Perception & Psychophysics 45, 265–272 (1989). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210706
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210706