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Numerosity Estimation in Visual Stimuli in the Absence of Luminance-Based Cues
BACKGROUND: Numerosity estimation is a basic preverbal ability that humans share with many animal species and that is believed to be foundational of numeracy skills. It is notoriously difficult, however, to establish whether numerosity estimation is based on numerosity itself, or on one or more non-...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Public Library of Science
2011
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046164/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21387017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017378 |
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author | Kramer, Peter Di Bono, Maria Grazia Zorzi, Marco |
author_facet | Kramer, Peter Di Bono, Maria Grazia Zorzi, Marco |
author_sort | Kramer, Peter |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Numerosity estimation is a basic preverbal ability that humans share with many animal species and that is believed to be foundational of numeracy skills. It is notoriously difficult, however, to establish whether numerosity estimation is based on numerosity itself, or on one or more non-numerical cues like—in visual stimuli—spatial extent and density. Frequently, different non-numerical cues are held constant on different trials. This strategy, however, still allows numerosity estimation to be based on a combination of non-numerical cues rather than on any particular one by itself. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we introduce a novel method, based on second-order (contrast-based) visual motion, to create stimuli that exclude all first-order (luminance-based) cues to numerosity. We show that numerosities can be estimated almost as well in second-order motion as in first-order motion. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The results show that numerosity estimation need not be based on first-order spatial filtering, first-order density perception, or any other processing of luminance-based cues to numerosity. Our method can be used as an effective tool to control non-numerical variables in studies of numerosity estimation. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-3046164 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2011 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-30461642011-03-08 Numerosity Estimation in Visual Stimuli in the Absence of Luminance-Based Cues Kramer, Peter Di Bono, Maria Grazia Zorzi, Marco PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Numerosity estimation is a basic preverbal ability that humans share with many animal species and that is believed to be foundational of numeracy skills. It is notoriously difficult, however, to establish whether numerosity estimation is based on numerosity itself, or on one or more non-numerical cues like—in visual stimuli—spatial extent and density. Frequently, different non-numerical cues are held constant on different trials. This strategy, however, still allows numerosity estimation to be based on a combination of non-numerical cues rather than on any particular one by itself. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we introduce a novel method, based on second-order (contrast-based) visual motion, to create stimuli that exclude all first-order (luminance-based) cues to numerosity. We show that numerosities can be estimated almost as well in second-order motion as in first-order motion. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The results show that numerosity estimation need not be based on first-order spatial filtering, first-order density perception, or any other processing of luminance-based cues to numerosity. Our method can be used as an effective tool to control non-numerical variables in studies of numerosity estimation. Public Library of Science 2011-02-28 /pmc/articles/PMC3046164/ /pubmed/21387017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017378 Text en Kramer et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Kramer, Peter Di Bono, Maria Grazia Zorzi, Marco Numerosity Estimation in Visual Stimuli in the Absence of Luminance-Based Cues |
title | Numerosity Estimation in Visual Stimuli in the Absence of Luminance-Based Cues |
title_full | Numerosity Estimation in Visual Stimuli in the Absence of Luminance-Based Cues |
title_fullStr | Numerosity Estimation in Visual Stimuli in the Absence of Luminance-Based Cues |
title_full_unstemmed | Numerosity Estimation in Visual Stimuli in the Absence of Luminance-Based Cues |
title_short | Numerosity Estimation in Visual Stimuli in the Absence of Luminance-Based Cues |
title_sort | numerosity estimation in visual stimuli in the absence of luminance-based cues |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046164/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21387017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017378 |
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