The role of visual attention in counting and numerosity estimation

2021财年的实验结果表明，当无法进行基于颜色的分割时，计数性能受到抑制。具体来说，当显示中的物体是随机颜色时，与可能基于颜色分割的显示相比，参与者在计数时更困难。在2022财年，研究人员进行了一项后续实验，以调查在物体颜色无法用于分割显示的情况下，注意线索是否可以提高计数性能。这个实验使用了随机着色的物体显示，这使得很难根据物体的颜色进行分割。提供注意线索，将参与者的注意力引导到具有提示颜色的物体上。结果表明，即使在无法进行基于颜色的分割的情况下，注意提示也可以提高计数性能。这表明注意线索可以作为一种有效的替代基于颜色的分割来提高计数性能。

The results of the FY 2021 experiments showed that counting performance was inhibited when color-based segmentation was not possible. Specifically, when the objects in the display were randomly colored, participants had more difficulty counting them compared to displays where color-based segmentation was possible.In FY 2022, a follow-up experiment was conducted to investigate whether attentional cues can improve counting performance in situations where object color cannot be used to segment the display. This experiment used displays of objects that were randomly colored, making it difficult to segment the objects based on their color. Attentional cues were provided to direct the participant's attention to objects having the cued color. The results showed that attentional cues can improve counting performance even in situations where color-based segmentation is not possible. This suggests that attentional cues can serve as an effective alternative to color-based segmentation in improving counting performance.