This paper was presented at session 38 - signing, delineation and guidance 2. Thirty-six observers were asked to locate whether or not a target destination was included in vertical stacks of destination names. The stacks varied in length from two names to nine names. The time allowed to view the stack varied from 250 ms to 1500 ms. It was found that this task could be accomplished within 1500 ms at a performance level of 95 per cent correct for stacks having up to seven names. Name length assisted the search process so that short (4-letter) and long (10-letter) were found more easily such that a 9-name stack could be successfully searched to 95 per cent chance of being correct within 1500 ms. Rate of search was somewhat faster than that for reading random words and can be described by the relation t is approx. Equal to 0.25 n-0.17, where n is the number of names in the stack and t is the time needed in seconds. The resolution-limited model does not predict performance in this search task well, indicating again that there is a processing limitation causing performance to fall short of what is physiologically possible. The number of the covering abstract of the conference is IRRD No. 239340.
Abstract