Start time affects the mode of color search: Evidence for a short-lived capacity-limited parallel process in visual search.

Abstract

In the present study, we tested the validity of an assumption of the guided search model that visual selection is a serial process. This assumption predicts that a top-down search, such as the distinct color search (DCS; e.g., finding a target color among a set of distractors each of a unique color), is a serial search. We examined the search mode of DCS with the multiple-target search paradigm, which uses target redundancy gains to distinguish parallel from serial searches. The data suggest that DCS is normally a parallel search (Experiment 1) but becomes a serial search if its start time is delayed (Experiment 2). One plausible account to reconcile these results is that visual selection is serial by default but, right after the presentation of the search array, there is a short-lived bottom-up mechanism that may enable parallel visual selection. Our data further show that this short-lived mechanism has a capacity limit between 4 and 8 (Experiment 3). The present findings suggest that the current mainstream theories of visual search need to be modified and the effect of temporal factors on the search mode should be taken into account. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).