Abstract
Humans can approximately enumerate a large number of objects at a single glance. While several mechanisms have been proposed to account for this ability, the fundamental units over which they operate remain unclear. Previous studies have argued that estimation mechanisms act only on topologically distinct units or on units formed by spatial grouping cues such as proximity and connectivity, but not on units grouped by similarity. Over four experiments, we tested this claim by systematically assessing and demonstrating that similarity grouping leads to underestimation, just as spatial grouping does. Ungrouped objects with the same low-level properties as grouped objects did not cause underestimation. Further, the underestimation caused by spatial and similarity grouping was additive, suggesting that these grouping processes operate independently. These findings argue against the proposal that estimation mechanisms operate solely on topological units. Instead, we conclude that estimation processes act on representations constructed after Gestalt grouping principles, whether similarity based or spatial, have organised incoming visual input.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 105565 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Cognition |
Volume | 239 |
Early online date | 22 Jul 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2023 |
Bibliographical note
We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers and Michele Fornaciai for suggesting alternative explanations (low-level features, attentional prioritisation effect) and ideas about mechanisms (divisive normalisation).Open Access via Elsevier agreement
Data Availability Statement
The data are available at OSF : https://osf.io/wmxqn/Keywords
- numerosity estimation
- gestalt grouping
- Approximate number system
- numerical cognition
- visual perception
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Similarity grouping and numerosity estimation
Chakravarthi, R. (Contributor), Nordqvist, A. (Contributor), Poncet, M. (Contributor) & Adamian, N. (Contributor), OSF, 18 Aug 2021
Dataset