Visual Search

Visual search is a perceptual task requiring attention in which a person actively scans a visual environment for one particular object or feature, called the target, among other objects or features, called the distractors. The scan can involve eye movements or take place without them. Everyday examples include picking a familiar product off a crowded supermarket shelf, spotting a friend in a crowd, or playing a find the object game such as Where is Wally. Researchers have studied the process for decades, historically by timing how quickly people find a target among varying numbers of distractors, and more recently by tracking eye movements directly, since the eyes can move independently of where attention is actually focused. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/