The presence of a common color feature improves attentional guidance during hybrid search

Imagine searching for items for a dinner party at the grocery store. This is an example of “hybrid” search and involves looking for many targets held in memory at once. Hybrid search involves two stages: visual search for possible targets to select and then memory search for a matching target. In two studies, we tested the hypothesis that the presence of a common feature across targets (e.g., “red” if searching for tomato sauce and a can of Campbell’s soup) will facilitate hybrid search by allowing a single feature to be extracted and used to guide attention during the visual search stage. In experiment 1, we confirmed that the common target color could be prioritized over other target colors during visual search (1a) and that this effect could not be accounted for by repetitions of target color across trials (1b). In experiment 2, we manipulated the memory set size and the presence of a common color on every trial and found main effects of each, but no interaction, suggesting additive effects on hybrid search. There were also individual differences in the ability to use the common color. Together the data indicate that the presence of a common target feature can be strategically exploited to create a more efficient target template, but the ability to do so varies across individuals.