Nonverbal counting in humans: The psychophysics of number representation
Nonverbal counting in humans: The psychophysics of number representation
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DOI：
10.1111/1467-9280.00120
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发表时间：
1999-03-01
影响因子：
8.2
通讯作者：
Gelman, R
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Whalen, J;Gallistel, CR;Gelman, R
在一项源自动物文献的非语言计数任务中，成年人类受试者反复尝试按下目标按键的次数，这使得有声或无声计数变得困难或不可能。在第二项任务中，他们在一个快速随机的时间序列中估计闪光的次数。与动物数据一致，两个任务的平均估计值与目标值成正比，估计值的变异性也是如此。越来越多的证据表明，受试者不太可能使用口头计算时间来完成这些任务。研究结果支持了一个假设，即成年人与非语言动物一样，拥有一个用具有标量变异性（一个恒定的变异系数）的数量级来表示数字的系统。数字符号到心理量的映射提供了符号潜在的非语言意义的形式化模型（数字语义模型）。
In a nonverbal counting task derived from the animal literature, adult human subjects repeatedly attempted to produce target numbers of key presses at rates that made vocal or subvocal counting difficult or impossible. In a second task, they estimated the number of flashes in a rapid randomly timed sequence. Congruent with the animal data,,mean estimates in both tasks were proportional to target values, as was the variability in the estimates. Converging evidence makes it unlikely thar subjects used verbal counting of time durations to perform these tasks. The results support the hypothesis that adult humans share with nonverbal animals a system for representing number by magnitudes that have scalar variability (a constant coefficient of variation). The mapping of numerical symbols to,mental magnitudes provides a formal model of the underlying nonverbal meaning of the symbols (a model of numerical semantics).