The Influence of Feature Representations and Conceptual Category Membership During Search for Alphanumerical Characters
- Author(s)
- Diane Baier, Ulrich Ansorge
- Abstract
In visual search for alphanumerical characters, search templates might be based on feature representations or conceptual category membership. To examine these possibilities, we presented alphanumerical characters as cues in two contingent-capture experiments (with overlapping or separate character sets for cues and targets). In the contingent-capture paradigm, only cues matching the top-down search template (e.g., a letter cue when searching for target letters) capture attention and lead to validity effects (shorter search times and fewer errors for validly than invalidly cued targets). Cues not matching the top-down search template (e.g., a number cue when searching for target letters) do not capture attention. To distinguish between feature-based and category-based search templates, we used both upright and inverted cues. These cues share the same features, whereas the ability to categorize inverted cues is impaired compared with upright cues. Thus, if search relies solely on category membership, inverted cues would not lead to validity effects, or at least produce considerably weaker effects than upright cues. As we found significant validity effects for both upright and inverted cues in both experiments, the results provide evidence for feature-based search templates. However, diminished validity effects for inverted cues demonstrate partial influence of category membership.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology
- Journal
- Perception
- Volume
- 48
- Pages
- 48-48
- No. of pages
- 1
- ISSN
- 0301-0066
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006619863862
- Publication date
- 09-2019
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 501001 General psychology
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/the-influence-of-feature-representations-and-conceptual-category-membership-during-search-for-alphanumerical-characters(a74d8e21-d5e2-475d-b61e-2b9ab103576b).html