Abstract

LOPES, Ederaldo José  and  GALERA, César. The selection of stimuli relevant in visual search: automatic or controlled processes?. Temas psicol. [online]. 1998, vol.6, n.3, pp. 191-198. ISSN 1413-389X.

We aimed to investigate the attentional mechanisms underlying the selection process in the visual search task. We present the development of the selective attention concept and some important questions about this concept using the visual search task. Some experiments show that the search for a target can be restricted to a subset of stimuli, making easy the selection and search processes. Some experimental factors can make the selection process dependent on focai attention (controlled process), while others can make it dependent on mechanisms distributed through the entire search field (automatic process). The diagnosis of these processes based on the slope of the reaction time is controversial. We proposed a diagnosis based on the addictive factors method that have been usefúl to identify those visual characteristics that allow an automatic selection process

Keywords : selective attention; visual search; controlled processes; automatic processes; reaction time.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )