Linguistically mediated visual search

During an individual's normal interaction with the environment and other hu mans, visual and linguistic signals often coincide and can be integrated ve ry quickly. This has been clearly demonstrated in recent eyetracking studie s showing that visual perception constraints on-line comprehension of spoke n language. In a modified visual search task, we found the inverse, that re al-time language comprehension can also constrain visual perception. In sta ndard visual search tasks, the number of distractors in the display strongl y affects search time for a target defined by a conjunction of features, bu t not for a target defined by a single feature. However, we found that when a conjunction target was identified by a spoken instruction presented conc urrently with the visual display, the incremental processing of spoken lang uage allowed the search process to proceed in a manner considerably less af fected by the number of distractors. These results suggest that perceptual systems specialized for language and for vision interact more fluidly than previously thought.