The study investigates the role of intrinsic interests in visual search. For instance, agreeableness and conscientiousness that show women's interest in harmony can lead to prolonged search with a long reaction time ‘tail’ (Shahar et al., 2014) especially in no-target trials (Lange-Küttner & Puiu, 2021). Likewise, in visual search using a football pitch where one target player was in an offside position, or not, girls with less game experience were also less likely to show successful identification (Lange-Küttner & Bosco, 2016). This study tested boys and girls at 9 and 12 years who were intrinsically interested in reading books in a library and compared them with football club members. The library group was better in identifying no-offside trials (saying no) but this bias had disappeared at 12 years of age. The football group was better in identifying the target player in the offside position at 12 years of age. Thus, interest in the game still exerted a significant influence on the offside visual search task.

Lange-Küttner, c. & Bosco, G. (2016). On being in the wrong Place: The role of children’s conceptual understanding and ballgame experience when judging a football player’s offside position. International Journal of Developmental Science, 10, 73-84. https://doi.org/10.3233/DEV-160185

Lange-Küttner, C., & Puiu, A.-A. (2021). Perceptual load and sex-specific personality traits. Experimental Psychology, 68(3), 149-164. https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000520

Shahar, N., Teodorescu, A. R., Usher, M., Pereg, M., & Meiran, N. (2014). Selective influence of working memory load on exceptionally slow reaction times. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(5), 1837-1860. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037190