Effects of part-based similarity on visual search: The Frankenbear experiment

Abstract

Do the target–distractor and distractor–distractor similarity relationships known to exist for simple stimuli extend to real-world objects, and are these effects expressed in search guidance or target verification? Parts of photorealistic distractors were replaced with target parts to create four levels of target–distractor similarity under heterogenous and homogenous conditions. We found that increasing target–distractor similarity and decreasing distractor–distractor similarity impaired search guidance and target verification, but that target–distractor similarity and heterogeneity/homogeneity interacted only in measures of guidance; distractor homogeneity lessens effects of target–distractor similarity by causing gaze to fixate the target sooner, not by speeding target detection following its fixation.