Bremner J Gavin, Slater Alan M, Hayes Rachel A, Mason Uschi C, Murphy Caroline, Spring Jo, Draper Lucinda, Gaskell David, Johnson Scott P
Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK.
University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QJ, UK.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2017 Oct;162:199-208. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.05.007. Epub 2017 Jun 13.
Investigating infants' numerical ability is crucial to identifying the developmental origins of numeracy. Wynn (1992) claimed that 5-month-old infants understand addition and subtraction as indicated by longer looking at outcomes that violate numerical operations (i.e., 1+1=1 and 2-1=2). However, Wynn's claim was contentious, with others suggesting that her results might reflect a familiarity preference for the initial array or that they could be explained in terms of object tracking. To cast light on this controversy, Wynn's conditions were replicated with conventional looking time supplemented with eye-tracker data. In the incorrect outcome of 2 in a subtraction event (2-1=2), infants looked selectively at the incorrectly present object, a finding that is not predicted by an initial array preference account or a symbolic numerical account but that is consistent with a perceptual object tracking account. It appears that young infants can track at least one object over occlusion, and this may form the precursor of numerical ability.
研究婴儿的数字能力对于确定数字认知的发展起源至关重要。韦恩（1992）声称，5个月大的婴儿理解加法和减法，这表现为他们会更长时间地注视违反数字运算的结果（即1+1=1和2-1=2）。然而，韦恩的说法存在争议，其他人认为她的结果可能反映了对初始阵列的熟悉偏好，或者可以用物体追踪来解释。为了阐明这一争议，我们重复了韦恩的实验条件，采用传统的注视时间并补充眼动仪数据。在减法事件（2-1=2）中出现错误结果2时，婴儿会选择性地注视错误呈现的物体，这一发现既不能由初始阵列偏好理论或符号数字理论预测，但与感知物体追踪理论一致。看来，年幼的婴儿能够在物体被遮挡的情况下追踪至少一个物体，这可能构成了数字能力的前身。
