Visual Search

Realization of what is not worth your attention is as important as realization of what is. 

W. E. Buffett

Visual search is the one of the variants of human perception, in which with the help of the visual analyzer, a certain space for the presence of certain things or objects is measured. This type of research is carried out in cases where the desired object is located outside the zone of action of the visual analyzer, when it is not in the center of the visual field, or when there are distractions around it.

Outside the scope of psychology, visual search has found extensive use in different genres of computer games. Some of them are almost entirely based on this concept.

History

In 1979, it was suggested that the perception of people is consistent and at each subsequent stage evaluates the experience of the previous one. This statement became the basis for the development of the visual search.

At the end of the twentieth century (in 1980) one not very well-known psychologist, Anna Treysmen, conducted an interesting experiment. First, she asked the subjects to find a one red line among several rows of green lines. The results were different, but in general, people quickly coped with the task. Then, a psychologist concluded that finding an object among several similar but different on any single feature, is quite easy.

The next stage of the experiment was to find the blue square among many blue circles and yellow squares. In carrying out this task the subjects had difficulties, and they spent much more time than in the first case. Then Treysmen came to the conclusion that the more possible distractions, something similar to the original, is around, the more difficult it is to isolate desired. Moreover, the more distractions there were, the longer the subjects were looking for the right answer.

Thanks to this research, Treysmen developed her theory of feature integration, which is a basis of games and visual search training.

Such theory, concurrently with Anna Treysmen, was being developed by another two American psychologists: U. Neisser and D. Marr. However, the title of the founder of this concept belongs to her.

Application in Psychology

Visual search is widely used in the framework of psychology for the evaluation and development of attention. With this concept, a number of training sessions and games aimed at learning and improving concentration, capturing the essence, the development of logical thinking and an overall improvement in the cognitive aspects of the psyche were developed. The longer the trainings are performed, the faster the brain switches from one assessment to another, that increases the number of interconnections between nerve cells, increases the speed of thought and ingenuity.

Through training, based on the concept of visual search, ability to distinguish details is improved, which is especially important for people with right-hemispheric thinking. A person learns to break the object into their properties and quickly evaluate each of them.

Our Trainer

BrainApps has a trainer specially developed by psychologists, programmers and other professionals, based on the feature integration theory. It is an exciting game, which you can try in the game section. Training has the pictures of the same, at first glance, objects, but one of them is somehow different from the rest. It is the one you need to find.

The game is perfect not only for adults, but also children, who are developing the skills of concentration and quick thinking, which are needed even more than for the older generation. With the help of a trainer, you can spend your free time for the benefit of your brain.