Conjunction Search of Features Between and Within Dimensions of Lines and Colors

FORONDA, Elaine Louise O.

LEONADOR, Anjaelou Blesz L.
NAADIEGO, Dwight Adrian

Date: October 20, 2016

1

INTRODUCTION
Search involves actively and often skillfully seeking out a target the particular stimuli
that needs attention, while distractors are non-target stimuli that divert our attention away from
the target stimulus. There are two types of search feature search and conjunctive search. In
feature search, we simply look or search for the uniqueness of the target stimulus. In
conjunctive search, on the other hand, we scan for the combination of the features of the target
and distractors.
Previous studies reported that searching a target stimulus surrounded by numerous
distracters having similarities in features requires sequential sampling of object locations by
focal attention which is reflected by an increase of reaction time a person has accumulated
(Donner et al., 2002).
Moreover, Wang, Kristjansson and Nakayama (2005) stated that the observers attend
serially to individual items since examining multiple features simultaneously is inefficient
because the target stimulus is difficult to distinguish when there is a large display size of
distractors; thus, making it slower in response time.
Also, the results of Ward and McClelland (1989) reported that the reaction time
increased roughly linearly with display size, which means the larger the display size is (i.e.,
more distractors), the slower the reaction time is.
Another experiment conducted by Treisman and Gelade (1980) suggested that simple
features can be detected in parallel with no attention limits, the search for targets defined by
such features (e.g., color or line) should be little affected by variations in the number of
distractors in the display. Lateral interference and acuity limits should be the only factors tending
to increase search times as display size increased, perhaps by forcing serial eye fixations.
In this study, we aim to recognize the target in the presence of many distractors using
conjunction search, to measure the differences between the reaction time in searching the
target stimulus of the two figures, to investigate whether the display size or number of
distractors affect the reaction time (see figure 1 and figure 2), and to identify the essence of this
study to cognitive psychology. This study asks: Does increasing number of distractors typically
slow reaction time in a conjunction search? This study will answer the hypothesis: Increasing
number of distractors has significant effect on reaction time.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Feature Integration Theory (FIT) is a theory of attention developed in 1980 by Anne
Treisman and Garry Gelade that suggests that when perceiving a stimulus, features are
registered early, automatically, and in parallel, while objects are identified separately and at a
later stage in processing.
Treisman and Schmidt (1982) also suggests that focused attention is necessary to
conjoin features correctly whenever two or more objects are present and these objects vary
along the same dimensions, so that their features could be wrongly recombined. The theory
proposes that attention is directed to one object at a time, allowing those features which cooccur in the same attention fixation to be conjoined into the correct, unitary whole.
To make it clear, search is made more difficult by distractors, which divert our attention
away from the target. In this case, FIT explains the ease of conducting feature searches and the
difficulty of conducting conjunction searches (Sternberg, 2011). In feature search, distractors
play little role in slowing our search since we simply scan the environment for that feature.
Conjunction search, on the other hand, we look for a particular combination of features.
Another concept of FIT states that the visual system first analyzes a scene in parallel by
separate retinotopic feature maps. Focal attention then integrates analyses in different feature
maps to produce a coherent perceptual object, and perceiving multiple objects in a scene
requires a sequential shift of attention from one location to another (Wang et al., 2005).
The definition of Sternberg (2011) for FIT will be used in this study specifically the
conjunction search, given the importance of this to cognitive psychology.

METHODOLOGY
Participants
The participants of this experiment were 18 undergraduate Psychology students from
San Beda College, and were selected through random sampling. They were divided into two
groups group one as the experimental group and group two as the controlled group.
Materials and Procedure
There were two figures: (1) a large display size where there is one target, and (2) a small
display size where there is also one target. And a mobile phone was used to record their
reaction time.

Figure 1

Figure 2

The two groups were called separately, and each members of the group were asked to
identify the target on their assigned figure. However, the first group were given a limited time of
five minutes while the second group does not have time constraint. Meanwhile, the experiments
have recorded their reaction time, which is the dependent variable of this experiment.

RESULTS
Based on the experiment conducted, the first group had difficulty in searching for the
target stimuli which took them 5 minutes as a group to search for the target stimuli in Figure 1.
Also, the group did not finish the activity wherein the three of their members were not able to
identify the target.
Meanwhile, the second group have used 1 minute and 21 seconds to look for the target
stimuli. Therefore, this support the hypothesis given that when there are more distractors
present, then it is harder for an individual to search for the target stimuli.
Table 1.
No. of distractors
No. of target
No. of participants

EXPERIMENTAL GROUP
41
1
9

CONTROL GROUP
5
1
9

5 minutes

1 minute and 21 seconds

No. of participants who were

not able to identify the target
Reaction time:

CONCLUSION
In search, we often engage in an active search for particular stimuli with the presence of
distracters (non-target stimuli) that hinders our search for the target. In this experiment, the
participants need to recognize which among the lines in Figure 1 and Figure 2 has the unique
structure. The results suggested that more distractors presented, the more difficult for the
participants to point out the target. Thus, Figure 1 shows the reaction time of the participants.
In relation to cognitive psychology, this study is essential in the cognition of attention,
consciousness and search ability of a person.

RECOMMENDATION
Future research should examine whether participants use the other theories in attention
and consciousness inferring other known qualities and characteristic of the retrieved target,
such as the texture, radiance and obscurity. Moreover, one can also replicate the study without
time constraints for each groups as this may interrupt their searching. Furthermore, future
research may also select their participants in accordance with their eye normality (that is, their
visual acuity is almost similar to one another). Lastly, further researches may ask the
participants what method (i.e., serial or parallel) they used in identifying the target.

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