Chapter 2 Visual search

Publisher Summary The study of visual search during a single fixation derives from the well established evidence that there is no useful vision during saccadic eye movements, which implies that search processes must occur during fixations. This chapter describes the mechanisms of visual attention relevant to free continuous visual search. While the structural approach is primarily concerned with what is processed during visual search, the functional approach is mainly interested in the determinants of visual search behavior and the resulting visual search pattern. Either approach has its prospects and limits. A structural approach might be characterized as atomistic: sensory, anatomic, and information processing limits are described without too much emphasis on their mutual interplay. This means that various search limits have been investigated in relative isolation. On the other hand, either theory, within its own confined area, enables accurate predictions and provides a rather elaborate account of factors influencing visual search.

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