Numerosity and cumulative surface area are perceived holistically as integral dimensions.

ABSTRACT: Human and nonhuman animals have a remarkable capacity to rapidly estimate the quantity of objects in the environment. The dominant view of this ability posits an abstract numerosity code, uncontaminated by nonnumerical visual information. The present study provides novel evidence in contradiction to this view by demonstrating that number and cumulative surface area are perceived holistically, classically known as integral dimensions. Whether assessed explicitly (Experiment 1) or implicitly (Experiment 2), perceived similarity for dot arrays that varied parametrically in number and cumulative area was best modeled by Euclidean, as opposed to city-block, distance within the stimulus space, comparable to other integral dimensions (brightness/saturation and radial frequency components)

SUBMITTER: Aulet LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7752852 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature