Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1980

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Hock, Howard S.

Abstract

A category effect of alphanumeric characters in a visual search paradigm was examined to see whether the effect could be accounted for by the number of memory comparisons or by an early stage of perceptual processing. In Experiments 1 and 2, subjects searched for targets in either a within-category or between-category condition. The two experiments differed by the point in the trials where "catch trials" were presented. Experiment 3 used new configurations based on Gestalt principles which had been shown to influence target detection times at an early level of perceptual processing. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 favored a perceptual explanation mediating the effect. In Experiment 3, the critical interaction of category and Gestalt factors which would have demonstrated a competition in perceptually parsing the display fell short of significance.

Extent

82 p.

Comments

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1980.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Identifier

FADT14036

Format

pdf

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