In general, visual search refers to the act of visually scanning an environment for a target item among distractors (Duncan and Humphreys 1989). Finding a favorite piece of clothing inside a closet full of clothes is an everyday example of a task that might require visual search. Visual search can be classified into two main types: feature search and conjunction search (e.g., Duncan and Humphreys 1989; Treisman and Gelade 1980; Trick and Enns 1998).
In feature search, a distinctive attribute of the target item is identified and used to locate the item from among the distractors (Duncan and Humphreys 1989). For example, a task involving locating a star-shaped set from a series of squares would be utilizing feature search, with the distinctive attribute of shape causing the target item (the star) to stand out from the distractors (the squares). This “pop-out” effect observed in feature search is thought to be linked to parallel processing of the targets and distractors (Duncan and...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References and Readings
Chokron, S., & Agostini, M. D. (1995). Reading habits and line bisection: A developmental approach. Cognitive Brain Research, 3(1), 51–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/0926-6410(95)00018-6.
Dennis, W., Scialfa, C. T., & Ho, G. (2004). Age differences in feature selection in triple conjunction search. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 59(4), P191. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/59.4.p191.
Duncan, J., & Humphreys, G. W. (1989). Visual search and stimulus similarity. Psychological Review, 96(3), 433–458. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.96.3.433.
Humphrey, D. G., & Kramer, A. F. (1997). Age differences in visual search for feature, conjunction, and triple-conjunction targets. Psychology and Aging, 12(4), 704–717. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.12.4.704.
Mark, V. W., Woods, A. J., Ball, K. K., et al. (2004). Disorganized search on cancellation is not a consequence of neglect. Neurology, 63, 78–84.
Treisman, A. M., & Gelade, G. (1980). A feature-integration theory of attention. Cognitive Psychology, 12(1), 97–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(80)90005-5
Trick, L. M., & Enns, J. T. (1998). Lifespan changes in attention: The visual search task. Cognitive Development, 13(3), 369–386. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0885-2014(98)90016-8.
Woods, A. J., & Mark, V. W. (2007). Convergent validity of executive organization measures on cancellation. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 29(7), 719–723. https://doi.org/10.1080/13825580600954264.
Woods, A. J., Göksun, T., Chatterjee, A., Zelonis, S., Mehta, A., & Smith, S. E. (2013). The development of organized visual search. Acta Psychologica, 143(2), 191–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2013.03.008.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Ochoa, C., Woods, A.J. (2018). Visual Search. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_9135
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_9135
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57110-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57111-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences