FINDING WALDO: TWO ROUTES FOR PROCESSING VISUAL SEARCH IN COMPLEX SCENIC IMAGES

Back to Page Authors: Andrew Hwang

Keywords: memory, morking memory, cognitive science, visual working memory, verbal memory

Abstract: This paper reviews the cognitive mechanisms underlying visual search in complex visual images. Visual search is a type of task we are constantly engaged in for various everyday activities. This paper introduces the current literature on two different processing routes that support visual search ability in human observers: Bottom-up and Top-down processing. Bottom-up processing allows the visual system to process sensory information from a visual image as it is shown, whereas top-down processing guides the visual system to efficiently allocate attention to a part of the image to facilitate the search process. The two processing routes via bottom-up and top-down processing work in concert during complex visual search, guiding our search behavior to be more efficient and adaptive. In the closing remark, this review also briefly discusses how the current knowledge about the roles of bottom-up and top-down processing in visual search can contribute to the development of computer vision and artificial intelligent systems.