When a target is present, search time is roughly half the time it takes when a target is absent. Why is that?
A) on average, the target will be found halfway through the search
B) the target is always placed halfway down the screen
C) the target will be found if it is present
D) the distractors are different if the target is not present

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

When a target is present in a search task, on average, it will be found halfway through the search process, assuming the search items are inspected one by one in a random order. This is because the searcher does not need to inspect every item to find the target; once the target is found, the search stops.

When a Target Is Present, Search Time Is Roughly Half