An experiment was conducted to determine whether socalled feature displays allow for faster and more accurate processing compared to object displays. Previous psychological studies indicate that features can be processed in parallel across the visual field, whereas objects must be processed one at a time with the aid of attentional focus. Numbers and letters are examples of objects; line orientation and color are examples of features. In this experiment, subjects were asked to search displays composed of up to 16 elements for the presence of specific elements. The ability to detect, localize, and identify targets was influenced by display format. Digital errors increased with the number of elements, the number of targets, and the distance of the target from the fixation point. Line orientation errors increased only with the number of targets. Several other display types were evaluated, and each produced a pattern of errors similar to either digital or line orientation format. Results of the study were discussed in terms of Feature Integration Theory, which distinguishes between elements that are processed with parallel versus serial mechanisms.

Date Published: 24 October 1988
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 0958, Automotive Displays and Industrial Illumination, (24 October 1988);

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0958:
Automotive Displays and Industrial Illumination
B. Jin Chang; Thomas M. Lemons, Editor(s)