How You Use It Matters
通过两个实验，研究了物体功能知识能否引导视觉搜索，发现学习过功能的被试能更快找到物体，且功能一致的位置有助于搜索，这对视觉认知理论有重要意义。
How does one know where to look for objects in scenes? Objects are seen in context daily, but also used for specific purposes. Here, we examined whether an object's function can guide attention during visual search in scenes. In Experiment 1, participants studied either the function (function group) or features (feature group) of a set of invented objects. In a subsequent search, the function group located studied objects faster than novel (unstudied) objects, whereas the feature group did not. In Experiment 2, invented objects were positioned in locations that were either congruent or incongruent with the objects' functions. Search for studied objects was faster for function-congruent locations and hampered for function-incongruent locations, relative to search for novel objects. These findings demonstrate that knowledge of object function can guide attention in scenes, and they have important implications for theories of visual cognition, cognitive neuroscience, and developmental and ecological psychology.