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Abstract
Three visual search experiments tested whether top-down selectivity toward particular stimulus dimensions is possible during preattentive parallel search. Subjects viewed multielement displays in which two salient items, each unique in a different dimension—that is, color and intensity (Experiment 1) or color and form (Experiments 2 and 3)—were simultaneously present. One of the dimensions defined the target; the other dimension served as distractor. The results indicate that when search is performed in parallel, top-down selectivity is not possible. These findings suggest that preattentive parallel search is strongly automatic, because it satisfies both the load-insensitivity and the unintentionally criteria of automaticity.
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TNO Institute for Perception, P.O. Box 23, 3769, Soesterberg, ZG, The Netherlands
Jan Theeuwes
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This study was supported in part by the Institute for Road Safety Research, SWOV. I thank L. C. Boer, O. Neumann, J. B. I. Riemersma, and A. F. Sanders for helpful comments on an earlier draft of the article.
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Theeuwes, J. Cross-dimensional perceptual selectivity.Perception & Psychophysics50, 184–193 (1991). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212219
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