Proportion of colour proportionally affects guidance in search for conjunction and real-world objects

Many studies have found that color is preferentially used as a guiding feature during feature-based search, but most of these studies used simple stimuli. Studies examining color guidance in visual search for real-world objects have been limited by the ability to control color in real-world objects. Through two experiments, we examined how search was guided by color in simple stimuli and real-world objects and how color compositions modulate guidance. We used different color compositions in color conjunctions (Experiment 1) and real-world objects objectively classified according to their primary color and secondary colors (Experiment 2). The results demonstrated that search was guided by both target colors and there was more guidance to objects that matched the target's primary color compared to the target's secondary color. Our studies provide evidence that traditional theories of visual attention, which are often evaluated using simple stimuli, are robust to more complex and realistic.