A Neural Theory of Visual Search: Recursive Attention to Segmentations and Surfaces

Abstract

A neural theory is proposed in which visual search is accomplished by perceptual grouping and segregation, which occurs simultaneous across the visual field, and object recognition, which is restricted to a selected region of the field. The theory offers an alternative hypothesis to recently developed variations on Feature Integration Theory (Treisman, and Sato, 1991) and Guided Search Model (Wolfe, Cave, and Franzel, 1989). A neural architecture and search algorithm is specified that quantitatively explains a wide range of psychophysical search data (Wolfe, Cave, and Franzel, 1989; Cohen, and lvry, 1991; Mordkoff, Yantis, and Egeth, 1990; Treisman, and Sato, 1991).