Gosling Esther, Demeyere Nele, Dowker Ann
St. Hilda's College, Oxford University, Oxford OX4 1DY, UK.
Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK.
Brain Sci. 2023 Feb 22;13(3):381. doi: 10.3390/brainsci13030381.
Subitizing is the ability to enumerate small quantities efficiently and automatically. Counting is a strategy adopted for larger numerosities resulting in a near linear increase in response time with each increase in quantity. Some developmental studies suggest that being able to subitize efficiently may be a predictor of later arithmetical ability. Being able to enumerate small quantities efficiently may be necessary for at least some aspects of arithmetical skill and understanding to develop. According to this view, arithmetic ability ultimately depends upon subitizing. If this were the case, when acquired brain injury results in impaired performance on subitizing tasks, mathematical performance may also be impaired. The following study tested eleven healthy control participants and nine chronic patients with acquired brain injury on tasks focused on visual enumeration, addition and multiplication to explore a potential relationship between subitizing ability and calculation performance. No overall correlations were found between subitizing and addition or multiplication speed. However, a very clear subitizing impairment was found in two patients who then demonstrated very different levels of preserved addition skills. The dissociations found and the large inter-individual variability supports a more componential view of arithmetical ability.
数感是一种能够高效且自动地数出少量物体的能力。计数是用于较大数量的一种策略，随着数量的每次增加，反应时间会近似呈线性增加。一些发展研究表明，能够高效地具备数感可能是后期算术能力的一个预测指标。对于算术技能和理解的至少某些方面的发展而言，能够高效地数出少量物体可能是必要的。根据这一观点，算术能力最终依赖于数感。如果是这样的话，当后天获得性脑损伤导致在数感任务上表现受损时，数学表现也可能会受到损害。以下研究对11名健康对照参与者和9名后天获得性脑损伤的慢性病患者进行了针对视觉计数、加法和乘法的任务测试，以探索数感能力与计算表现之间的潜在关系。在数感与加法或乘法速度之间未发现总体相关性。然而，在两名患者中发现了非常明显的数感损伤，随后这两名患者表现出了截然不同水平的保留加法技能。所发现的分离情况以及较大的个体间差异支持了一种关于算术能力的更具成分性的观点。
