Abstract
We propose a model that distinguishes between parallel and serial search in haptics. To test this model, participants performed three haptic search experiments in which a target and distractors were presented to their fingertips. The participants indicated a target’s presence by lifting the corresponding finger, or its absence by lifting all fingers. In one experiment, the target was a cross and the distractors were circles. In another, the target was a vertical line and the distractors were horizontal lines. In both cases, we found a serial search pattern. In a final experiment, the target was a horizontal line and the distractors were surfaces without any contours. In this case, we found a parallel search pattern. We conclude that the model can describe our data very well.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brown, J. M., Weisstein, N., &May, J. G. (1992). Visual search for simple volumetric shapes.Perception & Psychophysics,51, 40–48.
Cavanagh, P., Arguin, M., &Treisman, A. (1990). Effect of surface medium on visual search for orientation and size features.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,16, 479–491.
Duncan, J., &Humphreys, G. W. (1989). Visual search and stimulus similarity.Psychological Review,96, 433–458.
Hick, W. E. (1952). On the rate of gain of information.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,4, 11–26.
Hyman, R. (1953). Stimulus information as a determinant of reaction time.Journal of Experimental Psychology,45, 188–196.
Joseph, J. S., Chun, M. M., &Nakayama, K. (1997). Attentional requirements in a “preattentive” feature search task.Nature,387, 805–807.
Julesz, B. (1984). A brief outline of the texton theory of human vision.Trends in Neurosciences,7, 41–45.
Julesz, B. (1986). Texton gradients: The texton theory revisited.Biological Cybernetics,54, 245–251.
Lederman, S. J., Browse, R. A., &Klatzky, R. L. (1988). Haptic processing of spatially distributed information.Perception & Psychophysics,44, 222–232.
Lederman, S. J., &Klatzky, R. L. (1997). Relative availability of surface and object properties during early haptic processing.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,23, 1680–1707.
Linnell, K. J., &Humphreys, G. W. (2002). Visual search within and across dimensions: A case for within-dimension grouping.British Journal of Psychology,93, 115–135.
Maioli, C., Benaglio, I., Siri, S., Sosta, K., &Cappa, S. (2001). The integration of parallel and serial processing mechanisms in visual search: Evidence from eye movement recording.European Journal of Neuroscience,13, 364–372.
Mori, S., &Kataoka, A. (2004). Frame effects in visual search for line orientation.Perception & Psychophysics,66, 303–327.
Nakayama, K., &Silverman, G. H. (1986). Serial and parallel processing of visual feature conjunctions.Nature,320, 264–265.
Palmer, J. (1994). Set-size effects in visual search: The effect of attention is independent of the stimulus for simple tasks.Vision Research,34, 1703–1721.
Press, W. H., Flannery, B. P., Teukolsky, S. A., &Vetterling, W. T. (1992).Numerical recipes in C: The art of scientific computing (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Purdy, K. A., Lederman, S. J., &Klatzky, R. L. (2004). Haptic processing of the location of a known property: Does knowing what you’ve touched tell you where it is?Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology,58, 32–45.
Quinlan, P. T., &Humphreys, G. W. (1987). Visual search for targets defined by combinations of color, shape, and size: An examination of the task constraints on feature and conjunction searches.Perception & Psychophysics,41, 455–472.
Saarinen, J. (1995). Visual search at different spatial scales.Scandinavian Journal of Psychology,36, 1–9.
Scialfa, C. T., &Joffe, K. M. (1998). Response times and eye movements in feature and conjunction search as a function of target eccentricity.Perception & Psychophysics,60, 1067–1082.
Shen, J., Reingold, E. M., &Pomplun, M. (2000). Distractor ratio influences patterns of eye movements during visual search.Perception,29, 241–250.
Treisman, A. M., &Gelade, G. (1980). A feature-integration theory of attention.Cognitive Psychology,12, 97–136.
Treisman, A. M., &Gormican, S. (1988). Feature analysis in early vision: Evidence from search asymmetries.Psychological Review,95, 15–48.
Treisman, A. M., &Sato, S. (1990). Conjunction search revisited.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,16, 459–478.
Wolfe, J. M. (1994). Guided Search 2.0: A revised model of visual search.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,1, 202–238.
Wolfe, J. M., Cave, K. R., &Franzel, S. L. (1989). Guided search: An alternative to the feature integration model for visual search.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,15, 419–433.
Wolfe, J. M., &Horowitz, T. S. (2004). What attributes guide the deployment of visual attention and how do they do it?Nature Reviews Neuroscience,5, 495–501.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Overvliet, K.E., Smeets, J.B.J. & Brenner, E. Parallel and serial search in haptics. Perception & Psychophysics 69, 1059–1069 (2007). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193944
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193944