Numerosity perception is tuned to salient environmental features
Summary: Numerosity perception is a key ability to guide behavior. However, current models propose that number units encode an abstract representation of numerosity regardless of the non-numerical attributes of the stimuli, suggesting rather coarse environmental tuning. Here we investigated whether...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2022-04-01
|
| Series: | iScience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004222003741 |
| _version_ | 1811280058063519744 |
|---|---|
| author | Paolo Antonino Grasso Giovanni Anobile Roberto Arrighi David Charles Burr Guido Marco Cicchini |
| author_facet | Paolo Antonino Grasso Giovanni Anobile Roberto Arrighi David Charles Burr Guido Marco Cicchini |
| author_sort | Paolo Antonino Grasso |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: Numerosity perception is a key ability to guide behavior. However, current models propose that number units encode an abstract representation of numerosity regardless of the non-numerical attributes of the stimuli, suggesting rather coarse environmental tuning. Here we investigated whether numerosity systems spontaneously adapt to all visible items, or to subsets segregated by salient attributes such as color or pitch. We measured perceived numerosity after participants adapted to highly numerous stimuli with color either matched to or different from the test. Matched colors caused a 25% underestimation of numerosity, while different colors had virtually no effect. This was true both for physically different colors, and for the same colors perceived as different, via a color-assimilation illusion. A similar result occurred in the acoustic domain, where adaptation magnitude was halved when the adaptor and test differed in pitch. Taken together, our results support the idea that numerosity perception is selectively tuned to salient environmental attributes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T01:07:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-781cfe2907994ee1aee466579e7b445e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2589-0042 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T01:07:41Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | iScience |
| spelling | doaj.art-781cfe2907994ee1aee466579e7b445e2022-12-22T03:09:17ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422022-04-01254104104Numerosity perception is tuned to salient environmental featuresPaolo Antonino Grasso0Giovanni Anobile1Roberto Arrighi2David Charles Burr3Guido Marco Cicchini4Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Via di San Salvi 12, Padiglione 26, 50135 Florence, Italy; Corresponding authorDepartment of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Via di San Salvi 12, Padiglione 26, 50135 Florence, ItalyDepartment of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Via di San Salvi 12, Padiglione 26, 50135 Florence, ItalyDepartment of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Via di San Salvi 12, Padiglione 26, 50135 Florence, ItalyConsiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Institute of Neuroscience, Via Giuseppe Moruzzi, 56124 Pisa, ItalySummary: Numerosity perception is a key ability to guide behavior. However, current models propose that number units encode an abstract representation of numerosity regardless of the non-numerical attributes of the stimuli, suggesting rather coarse environmental tuning. Here we investigated whether numerosity systems spontaneously adapt to all visible items, or to subsets segregated by salient attributes such as color or pitch. We measured perceived numerosity after participants adapted to highly numerous stimuli with color either matched to or different from the test. Matched colors caused a 25% underestimation of numerosity, while different colors had virtually no effect. This was true both for physically different colors, and for the same colors perceived as different, via a color-assimilation illusion. A similar result occurred in the acoustic domain, where adaptation magnitude was halved when the adaptor and test differed in pitch. Taken together, our results support the idea that numerosity perception is selectively tuned to salient environmental attributes.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004222003741NeuroscienceBehavioral neuroscienceSensory neuroscience |
| spellingShingle | Paolo Antonino Grasso Giovanni Anobile Roberto Arrighi David Charles Burr Guido Marco Cicchini Numerosity perception is tuned to salient environmental features iScience Neuroscience Behavioral neuroscience Sensory neuroscience |
| title | Numerosity perception is tuned to salient environmental features |
| title_full | Numerosity perception is tuned to salient environmental features |
| title_fullStr | Numerosity perception is tuned to salient environmental features |
| title_full_unstemmed | Numerosity perception is tuned to salient environmental features |
| title_short | Numerosity perception is tuned to salient environmental features |
| title_sort | numerosity perception is tuned to salient environmental features |
| topic | Neuroscience Behavioral neuroscience Sensory neuroscience |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004222003741 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT paoloantoninograsso numerosityperceptionistunedtosalientenvironmentalfeatures AT giovannianobile numerosityperceptionistunedtosalientenvironmentalfeatures AT robertoarrighi numerosityperceptionistunedtosalientenvironmentalfeatures AT davidcharlesburr numerosityperceptionistunedtosalientenvironmentalfeatures AT guidomarcocicchini numerosityperceptionistunedtosalientenvironmentalfeatures |