Question

Which of the following visual searches would have the longest search time?

1) Searching for a blue Q among 99 red O's, 50 red T's and 50 red I's
2) Searching for a blue Q among 99 blue O's, 50 red Q's and 50 red O's
3) Searching for a blue Q among 99 blue T's, 50 red T's and 50 red I's
4) Searching for a blue Q among 99 red T's, 50 red Q's and 50 red O's

Answer 1

Option 2, where the blue Q needs to be found among blue O's and red Q's, will have the longest search time, as the target shares features with multiple sets of distractors, increasing the difficulty of the visual search.

Step-by-step explanation:

When considering which of the following visual searches would have the longest search time, we should evaluate the difficulty based on feature similarities and differences between the target and distractors. The longest search time is likely to be:

1. Searching for a blue Q among 99 red O's, 50 red T's and 50 red I's
2. Searching for a blue Q among 99 blue O's, 50 red Q's and 50 red O's
3. Searching for a blue Q among 99 blue T's, 50 red T's and 50 red I's
4. Searching for a blue Q among 99 red T's, 50 red Q's and 50 red O's

Option 2 will have the longest search time because the target shares color with some distractors (blue O's) and shape with other distractors (red Q's), making it difficult to distinguish quickly.