Gj. Zelinsky et Dl. Sheinberg, EYE-MOVEMENTS DURING PARALLEL-SERIAL VISUAL-SEARCH, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance, 23(1), 1997, pp. 244-262
Two experiments (one using O and Q-like stimuli and the other using co
lored-oriented bars) investigated the oculomotor behavior accompanying
parallel-serial visual search. Eye movements were recorded as partici
pants searched for a target in 5- or 17-item displays. Results indicat
ed the presence of parallel-serial search dichotomies and 2:1 ratios o
f negative to positive slopes in the number of saccades initiated duri
ng both search tasks. This saccade number measure also correlated high
ly with search times, accounting for up to 67% of the reaction time (R
T) variability. Weak correlations between fixation durations and RTs s
uggest that this oculomotor measure may be related more to stimulus fa
ctors than to search processes. A third experiment compared free-eve a
nd fixed-eye searches and found a small RT advantage when eye movement
s were presented. Together these findings suggest that parallel-serial
search dichotomies are reflected in oculomotor behavior.