If you were searching for your missing keys, it would make sense to focus your search efforts on your cluttered desk compared to an empty table. However, it seems that people don't do always do this in experimental versions of this kind of task! We've shown search strategies do improve with practice, but not with time pressure or financial incentives. The type of search also seems to matter: people are able to optimally search for identity (e.g. for icons on a computer screen) but not for features (e.g. an oriented line).

Often, people use very variable search strategies. Why do they do this? We've shown that it doesn't seem to relate to a general tendency to precrastinate (start sub-goals of a task before they are needed). And it seems like performance on one search task doesn't reliably predict search on another.

 We've also explored how people's strategies might differ in more realistic tasks, such as when building with Lego or completing jigsaws.