Eye and head movements were recorded as unrestrained subjects tapped o
r only looked at nearby targets. Scanning patterns were the same in bo
th tasks: subjects looked at each target before tapping it; visual sea
rch had similar speeds and gaze-shift accuracies, Looking, however, to
ok longer and, unlike tapping, benefitted little from practice. Lookin
g speeded up more than tapping when memory load was reduced: memory wa
s more efficient during tapping. Conclusion: eye movements made when o
nly looking are different from those made when tapping, Visual search
functions as a separate process, incorporated into both tasks: it can
be used to improve performance when memory load is heavy.