Heim Stefan, Peiseler Natalja, Bekemeier Natalia
Research Centre Jülich, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Jülich, Germany.
Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2020 Mar 20;11:382. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00382. eCollection 2020.
Quantifiers (e.g., "many," "some," "at least seven," "more than half") are words characterizing amounts or numerosities by reference to an internal threshold, or degree. For some quantifiers, this degree is not uniquely defined: It varies for external contexts ("many lions"/"many flies") but may also be shifted within an individual ("many fries" for a hungry/full person). Previous studies showed that manipulation of the degree for one quantifier can impact that of other quantifiers. In this study, we tested whether such changes can occur by mere habituation, as formalized in the Adaptation Level Theory by Helson (1948) for sensory stimuli such as brightness or weight. To this end, participants read a quantifier statement and then judged whether a visual display with varying amounts (20-80%) of blue and yellow circles matched that statement. In Block 1, we identified which proportion of circles of a given color was judged by participants as "many" or "few." In Block 2, we modified the presentation of stimuli such that (1) only the quantifier "many" was used and (2) only low proportions of circles of a given color were presented, thus changing the base rate at which proportions were encountered together with "many." The hypothesis was that the internal degree of what is interpreted as "many" would be shifted downward and that this shift would also affect judgments of "few." Block 3 was identical to Block 1, serving as a test for the expected effect on the degree/threshold for/across all proportions. The findings were as expected: The probability of accepting 40% as "many" was increased during Block 2, indicating adaptation. Likewise, the probability function for "few" was shifted in a parallel fashion around the proportion 40%. These findings complemented earlier studies demonstrating intra-individual flexibility in quantifier processing. They show that this flexibility can even be observed in the absence of explicitly stated verbal contexts or reinforcements, in line with the Adaptation Level Theory formulated originally for magnitudes, i.e., non-linguistic representations of quantities.
量词（例如，“许多”“一些”“至少七个”“超过一半”）是通过参照内部阈值或程度来描述数量或数值的词汇。对于某些量词而言，这个程度并非唯一确定：它会因外部语境而变化（“许多狮子”/“许多苍蝇”），但在个体内部也可能发生变化（饥饿/饱腹的人对“许多薯条”的理解）。先前的研究表明，对一个量词程度的操控会影响其他量词的程度。在本研究中，我们测试了这种变化是否仅通过习惯化就能发生，正如赫尔森（1948年）在适应水平理论中对亮度或重量等感官刺激所形式化描述的那样。为此，参与者阅读一个量词陈述，然后判断一个由不同数量（20% - 80%）的蓝色和黄色圆圈组成的视觉展示是否与该陈述相符。在第一阶段，我们确定了参与者将给定颜色的圆圈中多大比例判断为“许多”或“少数”。在第二阶段，我们修改了刺激呈现方式，使得（1）只使用量词“许多”，（2）只呈现给定颜色圆圈的低比例，从而改变了与“许多”一起出现的比例的基础概率。假设是被解释为“许多”的内部程度会向下转移，并且这种转移也会影响“少数”的判断。第三阶段与第一阶段相同，作为对所有比例的程度/阈值预期效果的测试。结果正如预期：在第二阶段，将40%接受为“许多”的概率增加，表明发生了适应。同样，“少数”的概率函数在40%的比例附近以平行方式发生了转移。这些发现补充了早期关于量词处理中个体内部灵活性的研究。它们表明，即使在没有明确表述的语言语境或强化的情况下，这种灵活性也能被观察到，这与最初为大小量级（即数量的非语言表征）制定的适应水平理论一致。
