Research Article Open Access

Effects of Competing Lexical Distracters in a Visual Search Task

Jeremy W. Grabbe1, Tom Cioffi1, Luke T. Zauner1, Kerri L. Driscoll1 and Sean T. Ford1
  • 1 State University of New York, United States

Abstract

Studies have shown that distracters that are relevant to a target can negatively affect visual search performance. Recent studies have looked at performance when targets are embedded within a distracter. Various factors have been explored such as automaticity, spatial location and timing. This study asked, "If distracters affected a different dimension would that produce a detriment to visual search performance"? Would competition for attention occur if distracters were on an irrelevant dimension such as lexicality? The results of this study suggest that lexicality, as demonstrated by word frequency, is a disruptive distracter dimension. This study also showed that two distracters of different word frequencies can serve to disrupt attentional capture.

Current Research in Psychology
Volume 4 No. 2, 2013, 16-19

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3844/crpsp.2013.16.19

Submitted On: 14 November 2013 Published On: 16 January 2014

How to Cite: Grabbe, J. W., Cioffi, T., Zauner, L. T., Driscoll, K. L. & Ford, S. T. (2013). Effects of Competing Lexical Distracters in a Visual Search Task. Current Research in Psychology, 4(2), 16-19. https://doi.org/10.3844/crpsp.2013.16.19

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Keywords

  • Lexical Distracter
  • Attention Capture
  • Visual Search