TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparing performance in discrete and continuous comparison tasks
AU - Leibovich, Tali
AU - Henik, Avishai
N1 - Funding Information:
Correspondence should be addressed to Tali Leibovich, Dept. of Cognitive Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel. E-mail: [email protected] This work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/ERC Grant Agreement 295644. 1 Most studies dealing with animals’ abilities to discriminate magnitudes have studied discrete magnitudes.
PY - 2014/1/1
Y1 - 2014/1/1
N2 - The approximate number system (ANS) theory suggests that all magnitudes, discrete (i.e., number of items) or continuous (i.e., size, density, etc.), are processed by a shared system and comply with Weber's law. The current study reexamined this notion by comparing performance in discrete (comparing numerosities of dot arrays) and continuous (comparisons of area of squares) tasks. We found that: (a) threshold of discrimination was higher for continuous than for discrete comparisons; (b) while performance in the discrete task complied with Weber's law, performance in the continuous task violated it; and (c) performance in the discrete task was influenced by continuous properties (e.g., dot density, dot cumulative area) of the dot array that were not predictive of numerosities or task relevant. Therefore, we propose that the magnitude processing system (MPS) is actually divided into separate (yet interactive) systems for discrete and continuous magnitude processing. Further subdivisions are discussed. We argue that cooperation between these systems results in a holistic comparison of magnitudes, one that takes into account continuous properties in addition to numerosities. Considering the MPS as two systems opens the door to new and important questions that shed light on both normal and impaired development of the numerical system.
AB - The approximate number system (ANS) theory suggests that all magnitudes, discrete (i.e., number of items) or continuous (i.e., size, density, etc.), are processed by a shared system and comply with Weber's law. The current study reexamined this notion by comparing performance in discrete (comparing numerosities of dot arrays) and continuous (comparisons of area of squares) tasks. We found that: (a) threshold of discrimination was higher for continuous than for discrete comparisons; (b) while performance in the discrete task complied with Weber's law, performance in the continuous task violated it; and (c) performance in the discrete task was influenced by continuous properties (e.g., dot density, dot cumulative area) of the dot array that were not predictive of numerosities or task relevant. Therefore, we propose that the magnitude processing system (MPS) is actually divided into separate (yet interactive) systems for discrete and continuous magnitude processing. Further subdivisions are discussed. We argue that cooperation between these systems results in a holistic comparison of magnitudes, one that takes into account continuous properties in addition to numerosities. Considering the MPS as two systems opens the door to new and important questions that shed light on both normal and impaired development of the numerical system.
KW - Approximate number system
KW - Continuous magnitudes
KW - Numerical cognition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84899924582&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/17470218.2013.837940
DO - 10.1080/17470218.2013.837940
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84899924582
SN - 1747-0218
VL - 67
SP - 899
EP - 917
JO - Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
JF - Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
IS - 5
ER -