TY - JOUR
T1 - On the functional independence of numerical acuity and visual working memory
AU - Dell’Acqua, Roberto
AU - Sessa, Paola
AU - Brigadoi, Sabrina
AU - Gervain, Judit
AU - Luria, Roy
AU - Doro, Mattia
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2024 Dell’Acqua, Sessa, Brigadoi, Gervain, Luria and Doro.
PY - 2024/1/1
Y1 - 2024/1/1
N2 - Deciding where to direct our vehicle in a crowded parking area or where to line up at an airport gateway relies on our ability to appraise the numerosity of multitudes at a glimpse and react accordingly. Approximating numerosities without actually counting is an ontogenetically and phylogenetically primordial ability, given its presence in human infants shortly after birth, and in primate and non-primate animal species. Prior research in the field suggested that numerosity approximation is a ballistic automatism that has little to do with human cognition as commonly intended. Here, we measured visual working memory capacity using a state-of-the-art change detection task and numerosity approximation using a dot-comparison task, and found a null correlation between these two parametrical domains. By checking the evidential strength of the tested correlation using both classic and Bayesian analytical approaches, as well as the construct validity for working memory capacity and numerosity approximation estimates, we concluded that the present psychophysical evidence was sufficiently strong to support the view that visual working memory and numerosity approximation are likely to rely on functionally independent stages of processing of the human cognitive architecture.
AB - Deciding where to direct our vehicle in a crowded parking area or where to line up at an airport gateway relies on our ability to appraise the numerosity of multitudes at a glimpse and react accordingly. Approximating numerosities without actually counting is an ontogenetically and phylogenetically primordial ability, given its presence in human infants shortly after birth, and in primate and non-primate animal species. Prior research in the field suggested that numerosity approximation is a ballistic automatism that has little to do with human cognition as commonly intended. Here, we measured visual working memory capacity using a state-of-the-art change detection task and numerosity approximation using a dot-comparison task, and found a null correlation between these two parametrical domains. By checking the evidential strength of the tested correlation using both classic and Bayesian analytical approaches, as well as the construct validity for working memory capacity and numerosity approximation estimates, we concluded that the present psychophysical evidence was sufficiently strong to support the view that visual working memory and numerosity approximation are likely to rely on functionally independent stages of processing of the human cognitive architecture.
KW - approximate number system
KW - attention
KW - correlation
KW - sensory system acuity
KW - visual working memory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85188673858&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1335857
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1335857
M3 - Article
C2 - 38544511
AN - SCOPUS:85188673858
SN - 1664-1078
VL - 15
JO - Frontiers in Psychology
JF - Frontiers in Psychology
M1 - 1335857
ER -