Examined visual search for compound patterns in 6-, 8-, 10-, and 22-year-olds. Found large improvements with age in search rate for long-range targets; search rate for short-range targets was fairly constant across age. This pattern held regardless of ease of perceptual access to target, supporting the hypothesis of different processes involved at…

The significance of spatial factors on an initial segmentation and an active attentional phase was demonstrated by briefly exposing spatial configurations of elements, and then asking the subjects to reproduce the patterns or to search them for a target letter. The stimulus displays consisted of small o's forming different spatial configurations,…

The visual scanning of redundant and random spatial configurations of two-digit numbers was investigated in a target recognition task. The experimental technique involved a brief exposure of a probe (a two-digit number) at the center of the visual field, followed by a spatial pattern of 16 two-digit numbers which included the matching target in…

Visual acuity as a function of target position and density was measured in a letter recognition task. A homogeneous pattern of equally-spaced elements was tachistoscopically exposed, where the target was never located at the boundaries of the pattern. The target was marked with a spatial cue to control attentional processes. With such a spatial…