Facilitation and inhibition of visual display search processes through use of colour
van Fl Floris Nes, JF James Juola, R.J.A.M. Moonen · TU/e Research Portal · 1987
The effect of colour differences on visual search of videotex displays has been investigated in several experiments, including one with accurate measurements of eye movements. Subjects had to search for specific target words on display pages with normal text in one, two or four colours. The target-word colour was either known or unknown to the subjects. Objective and subjective data from the experiments show the exsistence of two basic visual search modes in tasks of this type. The results of the reported research show the extent to which colour may attract. or, alternatively, distract the reader's eyes while he/she is searching or reading a text. Some practical conclusions are drawn for information presentation on multicolour text displays.