Categorization in Hybrid Search: A Study Using Eye Movement Registration

Abstract

Categorization is the process by which objects are combined according to a certain principle, which provides more efficient and cost-effective information processing. One of the topical areas of research in this field is the study of the categorical effect in perceptual tasks, for example in the task visual search task. The present study investigated the effect of the role of category (basic or superordinate) on the time of guidance - the search for a target stimulus and verification - the time of identification of a target stimulus in a hybrid search task. Subjects had to find certain objects on the screen, which could be specified either as basic-level categories (e.g., cars) or superordinate-level categories (e.g., transport vehicles). An eye-tracking method was used to separate the entire hybrid search process into a guidance and a verification. A significant effect of category level was found on the rate of guidance, but not on the rate of verification.