guided-search theory
a two-stage model of visual processing in which initial parallel search mechanisms direct subsequent serial search mechanisms. In the first stage, basic stimuli features are processed simultaneously at all locations across the visual field; then, in the second, limited-capacity serial stage, processing is more complex and restricted to a particular item or location based on information obtained in the previous stage. For example, during a visual search for a red circle among green circles and red squares, the model suggests that a color processor scans for all red items while a shape processor simultaneously scans for all circles, and the combination of these two sources of information then narrows subsequent attentional focus to that item most likely to be the target; if that item proves not to be the target, attention proceeds to the next most promising item. Guided search departs from feature-integration theory and other models that consider
second-stage serial resources to be deployed from item to item relatively randomly. [proposed in 1989 by British-born U.S. cognitive psychologist Jeremy M. Wolfe (1955– ), Kyle R. Cave, and Susan L. Franzel]