Five Red Apples are Larger than Five Green Apples: The Effect of Object Features on Numerosity Recognition

Abstract

representation of number is a cornerstone of maturity, by which humans perceive numerical equivalence between various sets of objects. However, it is still unclear how humans perceive and retain the abstract nature of number from concrete numerical stimuli. Two experiments were conducted using a novel memory paradigm to clarify this issue. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to study sets of concrete objects and identify either familiar numerosity or familiar object shape, which were independently manipulated to create congruent and incongruent pairs. Results showed that the numerical cues interfered with object shape recognition and the object shape cues interfered with numerosity recognition. However, the magnitude of interference on numerosity recognition was larger than that on object recognition. These results suggest that individuals tend to integrate all of the visual properties present in the stimulus and use them to process numerical quantity even when the integrated input is not required for a given task. In Experiment 2, the instructions were the same as in Experiment 1 except that the participants were offered an attention-biased training session. The results suggest that independent processing of numerosity tends to be utilized only with cued attention later in development. Therefore, we concluded that unlike symbolic number processing, non-symbolic numbers are processed in a non-abstract manner, which may change later depending on observers’ expertise.

How negative emotions affect young and older adults’ numerosity estimation performance

“…Thus, perceived numerosity depends on the size of the individual objects, cumulative surface area, convex hull, density of items, or distance between items. For example, participants are faster and more accurate to estimate numerosity of dot collections when an array of dots is divided into subgroups relative to random display, or when the dots are displayed into small groups of easily enumerated groups (e.g., Anobile et al, 2020; Clayton & Gilmore, 2015; Gandini et al, 2009; Gandini, Lemaire, Anton, & Nazarian, 2008; Gandini, Lemaire, & Dufau, 2008; Gebuis & Reynvoet, 2012; Izard & Dehaene, 2008; Lee & Sloutsky, 2019; Moscoso et al, 2020; Reinert et al, 2019; Reynvoet et al, 2018).…”

Desenvolvimento e validação de um sistema de testes computadorizados para avaliação de habilidades do senso de números

“…Ontogeneticamente, no início da infância, antes do aprendizado dos números simbólicos, as crianças percebem as quantidades e constroem a noção do número e os esquemas mentais sobre as grandezas não-simbólicas a partir de sua experiência e interação com atividades sensório-motoras, objetos matemáticos concretos e materiais manipulativos como, por exemplo, dedos, moedas e blocos (Lee, 2019). A influência significativa dos dedos no desenvolvimento da contagem, principalmente no sistema de numeração decimal, é amplamente reconhecida (Dantzig, 2007).…”