Schmidt Joseph, Zelinsky Gregory J
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-2500, USA.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2009 Oct;62(10):1904-14. doi: 10.1080/17470210902853530. Epub 2009 May 19.
Visual search studies typically assume the availability of precise target information to guide search, often a picture of the exact target. However, search targets in the real world are often defined categorically and with varying degrees of visual specificity. In five target preview conditions we manipulated the availability of target visual information in a search task for common real-world objects. Previews were: a picture of the target, an abstract textual description of the target, a precise textual description, an abstract + colour textual description, or a precise + colour textual description. Guidance generally increased as information was added to the target preview. We conclude that the information used for search guidance need not be limited to a picture of the target. Although generally less precise, to the extent that visual information can be extracted from a target label and loaded into working memory, this information too can be used to guide search.
视觉搜索研究通常假定能够获取精确的目标信息来指导搜索，通常是目标的确切图片。然而，现实世界中的搜索目标往往是按类别定义的，并且具有不同程度的视觉特异性。在五种目标预览条件下，我们在一项针对常见现实世界物体的搜索任务中操纵了目标视觉信息的可用性。预览内容分别为：目标图片、目标的抽象文本描述、精确文本描述、抽象+颜色文本描述或精确+颜色文本描述。随着信息被添加到目标预览中，引导作用通常会增强。我们得出结论，用于搜索引导的信息不必局限于目标图片。尽管通常不太精确，但只要视觉信息能够从目标标签中提取并加载到工作记忆中，这些信息也可用于指导搜索。
