Remove single-threshold task labels from slope charts

Remove any single cutoff that classifies slope magnitude into search types. For example, do not mark about 10 ms/item as a decisive divide between “parallel” and “serial” on slope histograms or RT × set size summaries.

A cutoff annotation suggests that the data naturally split into distinct task classes and that slope alone is enough to identify them. The paper shows that neither assumption holds.

Mechanism: Removing the cutoff prevents readers from making an unsupported reverse inference from one slope value to a search type.

Evidence: The paper reports a unimodal overall slope distribution with no evidence for a bimodal serial-parallel split, and it shows that feature, conjunction, and spatial-configuration slope distributions overlap substantially (Wolfe, 1998).

Notes: The paper specifically calls the common 10 ms/item divide a myth and advises skepticism toward claims that classify a task from slope magnitude alone.

• User Goal: Compare or label different search-task types.
• Task: Present slope results without implying an unsupported serial-parallel split.
• Data: Slopes from multiple tasks, groups, or conditions that could be compared on one scale.
• Chart Setting: A histogram, grouped slope summary, or any slope chart where a reference cutoff could be drawn.
• Audience: Researchers or analysts reading visual-search figures.
• Success Criterion: Readers do not infer task class from a single threshold on slope magnitude.

Break it when: The figure only reports relative search efficiency and does not claim that slope alone determines task type. Why: The paper says slope differences still matter for explaining why some searches are easier than others.

Sacrifice: You lose a simple one-line classifier. Risk: Readers may still look for a shorthand category boundary. Mitigation: Replace the cutoff with direct class comparisons using distributions or slope ratios.

Mistake: Add a reference line or caption that treats one slope value as the boundary between task types. Why it fails: The underlying slope distributions overlap, so values on either side of the line can come from different task classes.

Failure Sign: The figure includes one slope cutoff and a categorical interpretation built on it. Quick Check: Remove the cutoff mentally and ask whether the classification claim still follows from the remaining plot. Stronger Test: Compare the task-class distributions directly; if they overlap, the cutoff annotation is unsupported.

• Delete the slope cutoff line and any label that names values below or above it as distinct task types.
• Rewrite the title or caption to describe slope as a continuous measure of efficiency rather than a categorical classifier.
• Add an overlapping distribution view or a slope-ratio view if the figure still needs to support task comparison.