Exact Number Concepts Are Limited to the Verbal Count Range
Exact Number Concepts Are Limited to the Verbal Count Range
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DOI：
10.1177/09567976211034502
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发表时间：
2022-02
影响因子：
8.2
通讯作者：
Benjamin Pitt;E. Gibson;S. Piantadosi
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Benjamin Pitt;E. Gibson;S. Piantadosi
先前的研究结果表明，在心理上表示大于4的确切数字取决于口头计数程序（例如，“一，二，三。. .”).然而，这些发现是有争议的，因为它们依赖于不同语言和文化的比较。我们测试了语言在一个单一的人口数量概念的作用-Tsimane'的玻利维亚-在其中的知识，数字的话不同的成年人。我们使用了一种新的数据分析模型来量化参与者（N = 30）在一个简单的数字匹配任务中从精确数字表示转换为近似数字表示的点。结果表明，这些行为转换点的范围内的参与者的口头计数范围，他们的表征的确切基数是有限的，他们知道的数字词。超过这个范围，他们就采用数值近似法。这些结果解决了之前发现的相互矛盾的解释，并提供了明确的证据，证明语言可以实现大的精确数字概念。
Previous findings suggest that mentally representing exact numbers larger than four depends on a verbal count routine (e.g., “one, two, three . . .”). However, these findings are controversial because they rely on comparisons across radically different languages and cultures. We tested the role of language in number concepts within a single population—the Tsimane’ of Bolivia—in which knowledge of number words varies across individual adults. We used a novel data-analysis model to quantify the point at which participants (N = 30) switched from exact to approximate number representations during a simple numerical matching task. The results show that these behavioral switch points were bounded by participants’ verbal count ranges; their representations of exact cardinalities were limited to the number words they knew. Beyond that range, they resorted to numerical approximation. These results resolve competing accounts of previous findings and provide unambiguous evidence that large exact number concepts are enabled by language.