Search strategy for shapes in formatted displays

Includes bibliographical references (pages 53-56)Previous studies of multiple target search tasks have found that displays which are formatted in row by column organizations lend themselves readily to the adoption of systematic search strategies. The present experiment investigated whether the two methods of systematic search, i.e. searching vertically by columns or horizontally by rows, would be differentially affected by the orientation of displayed shapes. Three configurations of shapes were studied. Individual shapes in orientation dependent shape sets shared an identical feature which provided a context for defining orientation. The features of orientation independent shapes provided no orientation information. Three display orientations were presented: completely vertical, completely horizontal, and mixed. The search strategy each of 72 subjects utilized to examine the formatted displays was determined by the experimental design and apparatus. It was predicted that performance, measured as search time and accuracy, would depend on the particular combination of search strategy and display orientation. (See more in text.