Some Errors of Perceptual Analysis in Visual Search can be Detected and Corrected

Abstract

This experiment tried to discover whether people can correct errors which occur because they incorrectly analyse a display to which they have to respond—whether, in fact, they can correct “perceptual” as well as “motor” errors. In a serial, self-paced visual search task, subjects made one response to indicate that a display of five or nine letters contained either of a pair of target letters, and another response when no target was present. Omission errors were much more common than False Identification Errors, but more of them were corrected. Omission errors were detected and corrected faster than False Identification Errors. Typically omission errors were slow responses while False Identification Errors were fast responses. It is possible to deduce that at least some errors resulting from incorrect analysis of a display can be detected and corrected, probably because of an extension of perceptual analysis during, or immediately after, the time when a response to the display is made.