Beran Michael J, Taglialatela Lauren A, Flemming Timothy M, James Frances M, Washburn David A
Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30034, USA.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2006 Dec;59(12):2065-82. doi: 10.1080/17470210600701171.
On an automated task, humans selected the larger of two sets of items, each created through the one-by-one addition of items. Participants repeated the alphabet out loud during trials so that they could not count the items. This manipulation disrupted counting without producing major effects on other cognitive capacities such as memory or attention, and performance of this experimental group was poorer than that of participants who counted the items. In Experiment 2, the size of individual items was varied, and performance remained stable when the larger numerical set contained a smaller total amount than the smaller numerical set (i.e., participants used numerical rather than nonnumerical quantity cues in making judgements). In Experiment 3, reports of the number of items in a single set showed scalar variability as accuracy decreased, and variability in responses increased with increases in true set size. These data indicate a mechanism for the approximate representation of numerosity in adult humans that might be shared with nonhuman animals.
在一项自动化任务中，人类要从两组物品中选择数量较多的一组，每组物品都是通过逐个添加物品形成的。在试验过程中，参与者大声重复字母表，这样他们就无法数物品的数量。这种操作干扰了计数，同时对记忆或注意力等其他认知能力没有产生重大影响，并且该实验组的表现比能够数物品数量的参与者要差。在实验2中，单个物品的大小有所变化，当较大的数字集包含的总量小于较小的数字集时（即参与者在做出判断时使用数字而非非数字数量线索），表现保持稳定。在实验3中，当准确性下降时，对单组物品数量的报告显示出标量变异性，并且随着真实集合大小的增加，反应变异性也增加。这些数据表明，成年人类中存在一种数量近似表征机制，这种机制可能与非人类动物共有。
