Control of visual processing by color cueing

Eight adult Ss tachistoscopically viewed letter arrays containing 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 letters inserted into a 5 by 5 matrix. Each array contained one target letter, either an F or an H. The S’s task was to identify which target letter was present in each display. Within an array, a subset of the letters was typed in red ink, and the remaining subset in black ink. In the cued condition, S was told the color of the target letter; in the uncued condition this information was withheld. The results indicated that color cueing significantly increased the accuracy of letter detection. Also significant were total display size, color of cue, and, within the cued condition, size of the target-color subset.