Attentional Guidance and Match Decisions Rely on Different Template Information During Visual Search
通过两个大学生实验（样本量分别为30和70），发现视觉搜索中初始注意引导使用粗略的关系编码，而后续匹配决策使用最优编码，表明模板信息的精度在不同阶段不同。
When searching for a target object, we engage in a continuous “look-identify” cycle in which we use known features of the target to guide attention toward potential targets and then to decide whether the selected object is indeed the target. Target information in memory (the target template or attentional template) is typically characterized as having a single, fixed source. However, debate has recently emerged over whether flexibility in the target template is relational or optimal. On the basis of evidence from two experiments using college students ( Ns = 30 and 70, respectively), we propose that initial guidance of attention uses a coarse relational code, but subsequent decisions use an optimal code. Our results offer a novel perspective that the precision of template information differs when guiding sensory selection and when making identity decisions during visual search.