Abstract
Ss were shown a rapid sequence of words and had to (a) make a speeded response to the presentation of a predefined target and (b) report a “response word“ which they thought immediately followed the target in the sequence. In Experiment I presentation rate was varied orthogonally with the number of alternative targets. Detection errors and latency increased with target set size, as did the distance of the response word from the target in the list sequence. Increases in presentation rate produced greater target-response distance without affecting detection time. In Experiment II Ss were in some conditions given only the initial letter of the targets; the response could be either the whole word following the target or only its initial letter. The results indicated that Ss could, within limits, concurrently detect initial letters and identify words. Alternatives to hierarchical-type models of stimulus processing in visual search were discussed.
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This research was supported in part by a NASA grant (NGR-05-o20-507) to R. C. Atkinson and was carried out during the tenure of a Dorothy Longmire Graduate Fellowship. It is based on a doctoral thesis submitted to Stanford University in 1973. The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of his advisor, R. C. Atkinson, and the members of his doctoral committee, E. E. Smith, H. H. Clark, and D. H. Lawrence.
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Fischled, I. Detection and identification of words and letters in simulated visual search of word lists. Memory & Cognition 3, 175–182 (1975). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212895
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212895