Abstract
Treisman"s Feature Integration Theory and Julesz's Texton Theory explain many aspects of visual search. However, these theories require that parallel processing mechanisms not be used in many visual searches for which they would be useful, and they imply that visual processing should be much slower than it is. Feature Integration Theory can be modified so that it accounts for these data and helps to answer these questions. In this new theory, which we call Guided Search, the parallel stage guides the serial stage as it chooses display elements to process.