Institute for Waldorf Education, Inclusion and Interculturalism, Alanus University, Campus Mannheim, Am Exerzierplatz 21, 68167, Mannheim, Germany.
Cogn Process. 2021 Aug;22(3):453-473. doi: 10.1007/s10339-021-01020-x. Epub 2021 Apr 5.
Counting objects, especially moving ones, is an important capacity that has been intensively explored in experimental psychology and related disciplines. The common approach is to trace the three counting principles (estimating, subitizing, serial counting) back to functional constructs like the Approximate Number System and the Object Tracking System. While usually attempts are made to explain these competing models by computational processes at the neural level, their first-person dimensions have been hardly investigated so far. However, explanatory gaps in both psychological and philosophical terms may suggest a methodologically complementary approach that systematically incorporates introspective data. For example, the mental-action debate raises the question of whether mental activity plays only a marginal role in otherwise automatic cognitive processes or if it can be developed in such a way that it can count as genuine mental action. To address this question not only theoretically, we conducted an exploratory study with a moving-dots task and analyze the self-report data qualitatively and quantitatively on different levels. Building on this, a multi-layered, consciousness-immanent model of counting is presented, which integrates the various counting principles and concretizes mental agency as developing from pre-reflective to increasingly conscious mental activity.
计数物体，特别是移动的物体，是实验心理学和相关学科中广泛探索的一项重要能力。常见的方法是将三种计数原则（估计、瞬间计数、连续计数）追溯到近似数量系统和物体跟踪系统等功能结构。虽然通常会尝试通过神经水平的计算过程来解释这些竞争模型，但到目前为止，它们的第一人称维度几乎没有被调查过。然而，心理学和哲学方面的解释差距可能表明一种方法上互补的方法，即系统地纳入内省数据。例如，心理动作争论提出了这样一个问题，即心理活动是否只在其他自动认知过程中起次要作用，或者它是否可以发展到可以算作真正的心理动作的程度。为了不仅从理论上，而且从探索性研究的角度来解决这个问题，我们使用一个移动点任务进行了一项研究，并在不同层面上对自我报告数据进行了定性和定量分析。在此基础上，提出了一种多层次的、内在意识的计数模型，该模型整合了各种计数原则，并将心理能动性具体化为从前反思性到越来越有意识的心理活动的发展。
