Target Recognition on Complex Displaysl

This stu & was conducted to determine the speed and accurag of form recognition as a function of: ( I) the amount of distortion between the reference form and the target form, (2) the number of irrelevant forms in the target display, and (3) the stimulus properties of the forms involved. The stimulus forms were generated by filling in, on a statistical basis, some of the cells of a 90,000-cell matrix. The subjects were shown a reference photograph of a target and instructed to locate that target on a display containing numerous other forms. Both criterion measures, vix., search time and errors, increased as a function oJ (1) an increase in the number of irrelevant forms on the target display, and (2) an increase in the dzference between the resolution of the reference form and that of the target display. A quantitative descrz)tion of the targets, which can be used to predict relative target dzjiculo, was developed. 1