The scale bandwidth of visual search

Abstract

Observers were asked to locate a target in a brief, two-scale display. Accuracy of locating the target was measured as a function of the ratio between the two scales. At each scale ratio, the probability of locating the target as a function of the number of elements is well fit by the idea that the observer accurately monitors only a “critical” number of elements. The dependence of critical number on scale ratio is well accounted for by a model that assumes that the observer’s decision is based on an evenly spaced array of samples. The sample spacing is under attentional control, but is always uniform.