Visual Search and Stimulus Orientation

Abstract

Two experiments were carried out to determine the relative efficacy of visual search with horizontal and vertical lists of letters. Exp. 1 showed that visual search was faster with horizontally presented material. In Exp. 2 this finding was analyzed further. The factors of list orientation and letter orientation affected search times but the actual letter-to-letter relationship within a list was unimportant. Results were discussed briefly in terms of their relevance to studies of discrimination.