How We Find (or Don't Find) Things

2017.02.20 We cannot simultaneously recognize every object in our field of view. As a result, we deploy attention from object to object or place to place, searching for what we need. This works quite well because our search can be guided by the features of the targets we seek, and the structure of the scenes in which those targets are embedded. Nevertheless, there are times when the search does not work perfectly and we intermittently fail to find what we seek. When those missed targets are tumors or bombs, these errors are socially significant, worth understanding, and, if possible, correcting. Speakers Jeremy M. Wolfe, Director, Visual Attention Lab, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Professor of Ophthalmology and Radiology, Harvard Medical School