1
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Papafragou A, Ji Y. Events and objects are similar cognitive entities. Cogn Psychol 2023; 143:101573. [PMID: 37178616 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2023.101573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2022] [Revised: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Logico-semantic theories have long noted parallels between the linguistic representation of temporal entities (events) and spatial entities (objects): bounded (or telic) predicates such as fix a car resemble count nouns such as sandcastle because they are "atoms" that have well-defined boundaries, contain discrete minimal parts and cannot be divided arbitrarily. By contrast, unbounded (or atelic) phrases such as drive a car resemble mass nouns such as sand in that they are unspecified for atomic features. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the parallels in the perceptual-cognitive representation of events and objects even in entirely non-linguistic tasks. Specifically, after viewers form categories of bounded or unbounded events, they can extend the category to objects or substances respectively (Experiments 1 and 2). Furthermore, in a training study, people successfully learn event-to-object mappings that respect atomicity (i.e., grouping bounded events with objects and unbounded events with substances) but fail to acquire the opposite, atomicity-violating mappings (Experiment 3). Finally, viewers can spontaneously draw connections between events and objects without any prior training (Experiment 4). These striking similarities between the mental representation of events and objects have implications for current theories of event cognition, as well as the relationship between language and thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Papafragou
- Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, 3401-C Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Yue Ji
- Department of English, School of Foreign Languages, Beijing Institute of Technology, No. 5 South Street, Zhongguancun, Haidian District, Beijing 100081, China.
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2
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Kibbe MM, Stahl AE. Objects in a social world: Infants' object representational capacity limits are shaped by objects' social relevance. ADVANCES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOR 2023; 65:69-97. [PMID: 37481301 DOI: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2023.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/24/2023]
Abstract
Several decades of research have revealed consistent signature limits on infants' ability to represent objects. However, these signature representational limits were established with methods that often removed objects from their most common context. In infants' everyday lives, objects are very often social artifacts: they are the targets of agents' goal-directed actions, communications, and beliefs, and may have social content or relevance themselves. In this chapter, we explore the relationship between infants' object representational capacity limits and their processing of the social world. We review evidence that the social content and context of objects can shift infants' object representational limits. We discuss how taking the social world into account can yield more robust and ecologically valid estimates of infants' early representational capacities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa M Kibbe
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States.
| | - Aimee E Stahl
- Department of Psychology, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ, United States
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3
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Kuhn J, Geraci C, Schlenker P, Strickland B. Boundaries in space and time: Iconic biases across modalities. Cognition 2021; 210:104596. [PMID: 33667973 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104596] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2020] [Revised: 12/23/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
The idea that the form of a word reflects information about its meaning has its roots in Platonic philosophy, and has been experimentally investigated for concrete, sensory-based properties since the early 20th century. Here, we provide evidence for an abstract property of 'boundedness' that introduces a systematic, iconic bias on the phonological expectations of a novel lexicon. We show that this abstract property is general across events and objects. In Experiment 1, we show that subjects are systematically more likely to associate sign language signs that end with a gestural boundary with telic verbs (denoting events with temporal boundaries, e.g., die, arrive) and with count nouns (denoting objects with spatial boundaries, e.g., ball, coin). In Experiments 2-3, we show that this iconic mapping acts on conceptual representations, not on grammatical features. Specifically, the mapping does not carry over to psychological nouns (e.g. people are not more likely to associate a gestural boundary with idea than with knowledge). Although these psychological nouns are still syntactically encoded as either count or mass, they do not denote objects that are conceived of as having spatial boundaries. The mapping bias thus breaks down. Experiments 4-5 replicate these findings with a new set of stimuli. Finally, in Experiments 6-11, we explore possible extensions to a similar bias for spoken language stimuli, with mixed results. Generally, the results here suggest that 'boundedness' of words' referents (in space or time) has a powerful effect on intuitions regarding the form that the words should take.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeremy Kuhn
- Département d'études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, Institut Jean Nicod, PSL Research University, France.
| | - Carlo Geraci
- Département d'études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, Institut Jean Nicod, PSL Research University, France
| | - Philippe Schlenker
- Département d'études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, Institut Jean Nicod, PSL Research University, France; New York University, USA
| | - Brent Strickland
- Département d'études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, Institut Jean Nicod, PSL Research University, France; School of Collective Intelligence, UM6P, Ben Guerir, Morocco.
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4
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Abstract
People distinguish objects from the substances that constitute them. Many languages also distinguish count nouns and mass nouns. What is the relation between these two distinctions? The connection between them is complicated by the facts that (a) some mass nouns (e.g., toast) seem to name countable objects; (b) some count and mass nouns (e.g., pots and pottery) seem to name the same objects; (c) nouns for seemingly the same things can be count in one language (English: dishes) but mass in another (French: la vaisselle); (d) count nouns can be used to name substances (There is carrot in the soup) and mass nouns to name portions (She drank three whiskeys); and (e) some languages (e.g., Mandarin) appear to have no count nouns, whereas others (e.g., Yudja) appear to have no mass nouns. All these cases counter a simple object-to-count-noun and substance-to-mass-noun relation, but they provide opportunities to see whether the grammatical distinction affects the referential one. We examine evidence from such cases and find continuity through development: Infants appear to have the conceptual OBJECT/SUBSTANCE distinction very early on. Although this distinction may change with development, the acquisition of count/mass syntax does not appear to be an effective factor for change.
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5
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Abstract
Visual cues have an important role in food preference for both rats and humans. Here, we aim to isolate the effects of numerosity, density, and surface area on food preference and running speed in rats, by using a forced-choice maze paradigm. In Experiment 1, rats preferred and ran faster for a group of multiple smaller pellets rather than a single large pellet, corroborating previous research (Capaldi, Miller, & Alptekin Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 15(1), 75-80, 1989). Further experiments tested the prevailing hypothesis that multiple food pieces are more reinforcing because they occupy a larger surface area. Experiment 2 controlled for numerosity by utilizing a continuous food: mashed potatoes flattened to cover a larger surface area or rounded into a ball. The rats preferred and ran faster for the flattened potatoes, suggesting surface area plays a role in quantity estimations. Finally, in Experiment 3, rats displayed no preference or difference in running speed between a group of scattered and clustered pellets when number of pellets were kept constant. Taken together, these results suggest that density has an important role in food perception-that is, the rewarding effect of higher numerosity or larger surface area is removed when the food does not fill out the entire space. Alternative explanations and implications for human diet are discussed.
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6
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Gashaj V, Oberer N, Mast FW, Roebers CM. Individual differences in basic numerical skills: The role of executive functions and motor skills. J Exp Child Psychol 2019; 182:187-195. [PMID: 30831383 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2017] [Revised: 01/23/2019] [Accepted: 01/25/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The aim of the current study was to explore individual differences in basic numerical skills in a normative sample of 151 kindergarteners (mean age = 6.45 years). Whereas previous research claims a substantial link between executive functions and basic numerical skills, motor abilities have been put forward to explain variance in numerical skills. Regarding the current study, these two assumptions have been combined, revealing interesting results. Namely, executive functions (inhibition, switching, and visuospatial working memory) were found to relate to symbolic numerical skills, and motor skills (gross and fine motor skills) showed a significant correlation to nonsymbolic numerical skills. Suggesting that motor skills and executive functions are associated with basic numerical skills could lead to potential avenues for interventions in certain disorders or disabilities such as nonverbal learning disability, developmental dyscalculia, and developmental coordination disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Venera Gashaj
- Department of Psychology, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland; Center for Cognition, Learning, and Memory, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
| | - Nicole Oberer
- Department of Psychology, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland; Center for Cognition, Learning, and Memory, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Fred W Mast
- Department of Psychology, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland; Center for Cognition, Learning, and Memory, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Claudia M Roebers
- Department of Psychology, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland; Center for Cognition, Learning, and Memory, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
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7
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Balestrieri A, Gazzola A, Pellitteri-Rosa D, Vallortigara G. Discrimination of group numerousness under predation risk in anuran tadpoles. Anim Cogn 2019; 22:223-230. [DOI: 10.1007/s10071-019-01238-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2018] [Revised: 01/10/2019] [Accepted: 01/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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8
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Mass is more: The conceiving of (un)countability and its encoding into language in 5-year-old-children. Psychon Bull Rev 2018; 24:1330-1340. [PMID: 27812960 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-016-1187-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Is the mass-count distinction merely a linguistic issue, or is it coded in representations other than language? We hypothesized that a difference between mass and count properties should be observed even in absence of linguistic distinctions driven by the morphosyntactic context. We tested 5-6-year-old children's ability to judge sentences with mass nouns (sand), count nouns (ring), and neutral nouns (i.e., those that appear in mass and count contexts with similar frequency; cake). Children refused neutral nouns embedded in uncountable morphosyntactic contexts, showing a preference for a count interpretation. This suggests that linguistic features alone are not sufficient to define the mass-count distinction. Additional analyses showed that children's performance with mass-but not count-morphosyntax correlated with their performance in tasks concerning logical and conservation operations. Altogether, these results suggest that the processing of mass features is not more demanding than count features from a linguistic point of view; rather, mass features entail additional abstraction abilities.
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9
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Strickland B, Chemla E. Cross-linguistic regularities and learner biases reflect "core" mechanics. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0184132. [PMID: 29324761 PMCID: PMC5764231 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2015] [Accepted: 08/18/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent research in infant cognition and adult vision suggests that the mechanical object relationships may be more salient and naturally attention grabbing than similar but non-mechanical relationships. Here we examine two novel sources of evidence from language related to this hypothesis. In Experiments 1 and 2, we show that adults preferentially infer that the meaning of a novel preposition refers to a mechanical as opposed to a non-mechanical relationship. Experiments 3 and 4 examine cross-linguistic adpositions obtained on a large scale from machines or from experts, respectively. While these methods differ in the ease of data collection relative to the reliability of the data, their results converge: we find that across a range of diverse and historically unrelated languages, adpositions (such as prepositions) referring to the mechanical relationships of containment (e.g “in”) and support (e.g. “on”) are systematically shorter than closely matched but not mechanical words such as “behind,” “beside,” “above,” “over,” “out,” and “off.” These results first suggest that languages regularly contain traces of core knowledge representations and that cross-linguistic regularities can therefore be a useful and easily accessible form of information that bears on the foundations of non-linguistic thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brent Strickland
- Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, Paris, France
- Institut Jean Nicod (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), Paris, France
- * E-mail:
| | - Emmanuel Chemla
- Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, Paris, France
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), Paris, France
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10
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Abstract
Liquids are an important part of many common manipulation tasks in human environments. If we wish to have robots that can accomplish these types of tasks, they must be able to interact with liquids in an intelligent manner. In this paper, we investigate ways for robots to perceive and reason about liquids. That is, a robot asks the questions What in the visual data stream is liquid? and How can I use that to infer all the potential places where liquid might be? We collected two data sets to evaluate these questions, one using a realistic liquid simulator and another using our robot. We used fully convolutional neural networks to learn to detect and track liquids across pouring sequences. Our results show that these networks are able to perceive and reason about liquids, and that integrating temporal information is important to performing such tasks well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Connor Schenck
- Connor Schenck, University of Washington, AC101, Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering, 185 Stevens Way, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Dieter Fox
- Connor Schenck, University of Washington, AC101, Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering, 185 Stevens Way, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
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11
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Ullman TD, Spelke E, Battaglia P, Tenenbaum JB. Mind Games: Game Engines as an Architecture for Intuitive Physics. Trends Cogn Sci 2017; 21:649-665. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2017.05.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2017] [Revised: 05/24/2017] [Accepted: 05/25/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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12
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Ruusuvirta T, Railo H. Judging Total Volumes Of Silhouetted Spheres In Different Numerosities. Perception 2017; 46:1183-1193. [PMID: 28566015 DOI: 10.1177/0301006617711063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Volume and number are addressed separately rather than combined in perception research. Yet, our everyday problems often involve summed continuous volumes of countable solid objects with partial depth cues (e.g., food items). The participants were presented with a set of black-and-white silhouettes of spheres that independently varied in numerosity (from 1 to 6) and total volume (2, 4, 6, or 8), and an adjacent silhouette of a partially filled cylinder. They judged how much the silhouetted sphere(s) in the set would raise the level of the cylinder content if the spheres were immersed into that content. Higher total volumes and numerosities of the spheres were judged slower and underestimated. Lower total volumes and numerosities were judged faster and overestimated. These effects strongly reflected the total silhouette area of the spheres in a set. The discontinuous effect of numerosity on judgment accuracy and speed suggested separate judgment modes below and above Numerosity 3.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timo Ruusuvirta
- Department of Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, University of Turku, Rauma, Finland
| | - Henry Railo
- Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
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13
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Strickland B. Language Reflects “Core” Cognition: A New Theory About the Origin of Cross-Linguistic Regularities. Cogn Sci 2016; 41:70-101. [DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2014] [Revised: 06/25/2015] [Accepted: 09/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Brent Strickland
- The Normal Superior School (ENS)/French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS); Jean Nicod Institute/Laboratory for the Psychology of Perception (LPP)
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14
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Hespos SJ, Ferry AL, Anderson EM, Hollenbeck EN, Rips LJ. Five-Month-Old Infants Have General Knowledge of How Nonsolid Substances Behave and Interact. Psychol Sci 2016; 27:244-56. [PMID: 26744069 DOI: 10.1177/0956797615617897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2015] [Accepted: 10/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Experience puts people in touch with nonsolid substances, such as water, blood, and milk, which are crucial to survival. People must be able to understand the behavior of these substances and to differentiate their properties from those of solid objects. We investigated whether infants represent nonsolid substances as a conceptual category distinct from solid objects on the basis of differences in cohesiveness. Experiment 1 established that infants can distinguish water from a perceptually matched solid and can correctly predict whether the item will pass through or be trapped by a grid. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that infants extend this knowledge to less familiar granular substances. These experiments indicate that concepts of cohesive and noncohesive material appear early in development, apply across several types of nonsolid substances, and may serve as the basis of later knowledge of physical phases.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alissa L Ferry
- Cognitive Neuroscience Sector, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA)
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15
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vanMarle K, Mou Y, Seok JH. Analog Magnitudes Support Large Number Ordinal Judgments in Infancy. Perception 2015; 45:32-43. [PMID: 26562862 DOI: 10.1177/0301006615602630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Few studies have explored the source of infants' ordinal knowledge, and those that have are equivocal regarding the underlying representational system. The present study sought clear evidence that the approximate number system, which underlies children's cardinal knowledge, may also support ordinal knowledge in infancy; 10 - to 12-month-old infants' were tested with large sets (>3) in an ordinal choice task in which they were asked to choose between two hidden sets of food items. The difficulty of the comparison varied as a function of the ratio between the sets. Infants reliably chose the greater quantity when the sets differed by a 2:3 ratio (4v6 and 6v9), but not when they differed by a 3:4 ratio (6v8) or a 7:8 ratio (7v8). This discrimination function is consistent with previous studies testing the precision of number and time representations in infants of roughly this same age, thus providing evidence that the approximate number system can support ordinal judgments in infancy. The findings are discussed in light of recent proposals that different mechanisms underlie infants' reasoning about small and large numbers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Yi Mou
- University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
| | - Jin H Seok
- University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
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16
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Overmann KA. Numerosity Structures the Expression of Quantity in Lexical Numbers and Grammatical Number. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2015. [DOI: 10.1086/683092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
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17
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Garland A, Low J. Addition and subtraction in wild New Zealand robins. Behav Processes 2014; 109 Pt B:103-10. [PMID: 25193352 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.08.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2014] [Revised: 08/18/2014] [Accepted: 08/22/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
This experiment aimed to investigate proto-arithmetic ability in a wild population of New Zealand robins. We investigated numerical competence from the context of computation: behavioural responses to arithmetic operations over small numbers of prey objects (mealworms). Robins' behavioural responses (such as search time) to the simple addition and subtraction problems presented in a Violation of Expectancy (VoE) paradigm were measured. Either a congruent (expected) or incongruent (unexpected) quantity of food items were hidden in a trap door out of view of the subject. Within view of the subject, a quantity of items were added into (and in some cases subtracted from) the apparatus which was either the same as that hidden, or different. Robins were then allowed them to find a quantity that either preserved or violated addition and subtraction outcomes. Robins searched around the apparatus longer when presented with an incongruent scenario violating arithmetic rules, demonstrating potential proto-arithmetic awareness of changes in prey quantity. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Cognition in the wild.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexis Garland
- Victoria University of Wellington, School of Psychology, New Zealand.
| | - Jason Low
- Victoria University of Wellington, School of Psychology, New Zealand
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18
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Cacchione T, Indino M, Fujita K, Itakura S, Matsuno T, Schaub S, Amici F. Universal ontology. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT 2014. [DOI: 10.1177/0165025414544233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated that adults are successful at visually tracking rigidly moving items, but experience great difficulties when tracking substance-like “pouring” items. Using a comparative approach, we investigated whether the presence/absence of the grammatical count–mass distinction influences adults and children’s ability to attentively track objects versus substances. More specifically, we aimed to explore whether the higher success at tracking rigid over substance-like items appears universally or whether speakers of classifier languages (like Japanese, not marking the object–substance distinction) are advantaged at tracking substances as compared to speakers of non-classifier languages (like Swiss German, marking the object–substance distinction). Our results supported the idea that language has no effect on low-level cognitive processes such as the attentive visual processing of objects and substances. We concluded arguing that the tendency to prioritize objects is universal and independent of specific characteristics of the language spoken.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Federica Amici
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany
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19
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Cacchione T, Hrubesch C, Call J. Phylogenetic roots of quantity processing: Apes do not rely on object indexing to process quantities. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2014.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
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20
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21
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van Marle K, Chu FW, Li Y, Geary DC. Acuity of the approximate number system and preschoolers' quantitative development. Dev Sci 2014; 17:492-505. [PMID: 24498980 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 108] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2012] [Accepted: 09/24/2013] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The study assessed the relations among acuity of the inherent approximate number system (ANS), performance on measures of symbolic quantitative knowledge, and mathematics achievement for a sample of 138 (64 boys) preschoolers. The Weber fraction (a measure of ANS acuity) and associated task accuracy were significantly correlated with mathematics achievement following one year of preschool, and predicted performance on measures of children's explicit knowledge of Arabic numerals, number words, and cardinal value, controlling for age, sex, parental education, intelligence, executive control, and preliteracy knowledge. The relation between ANS acuity, as measured by the Weber fraction and task accuracy, and mathematics achievement was fully mediated by children's performance on the symbolic quantitative tasks, with knowledge of cardinal value emerging as a particularly important mediator. The overall pattern suggests that ANS acuity facilitates the early learning of symbolic quantitative knowledge and indirectly influences mathematics achievement through this knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristy van Marle
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, USA
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22
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Cacchione T, Hrubesch C, Call J. Apes’ Tracking of Objects and Collections. SWISS JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2014. [DOI: 10.1024/1421-0185/a000120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Recent research suggests that great apes are less vulnerable to cohesion violations than human infants are. In contrast to human infants, apes successfully track nonsolid substances or split solid objects through occlusion ( Cacchione & Call, 2010a ; Cacchione, Hrubesch, & Call, 2012 , 2013 ). The present study aims to investigate whether the lower vulnerability of great apes to cohesion violations also manifests when they are tracking collections. While even very young human infants appreciate the continuous existence of solid bound objects, they fail to show similar intuitions when tracking collections of objects ( Chiang & Wynn, 2000 ). In a manual search task inspired by recent infant research, we tested whether humans’ closest relatives, the great apes, showed a similar contrast in their reasoning about single solid objects and objects within collections. The results suggest that, in contrast to human infants, great apes appreciate the continuous existence of objects within collections and successfully track them through occlusion. This confirms the view that great apes are generally less vulnerable to cohesion violations than human infants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Trix Cacchione
- Department of Psychology, Early Childhood and Comparative Psychology, University of Berne, Switzerland
| | - Christine Hrubesch
- Department of Psychology, Developmental Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Leipzig, Germany
- Anthropological Institute & Museum, University of Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Josep Call
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Leipzig, Germany
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23
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Cantrell L, Smith LB. Open questions and a proposal: a critical review of the evidence on infant numerical abilities. Cognition 2013; 128:331-52. [PMID: 23748213 PMCID: PMC3708991 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.04.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2011] [Revised: 04/23/2013] [Accepted: 04/23/2013] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Considerable research has investigated infants' numerical capacities. Studies in this domain have used procedures of habituation, head turn, violation of expectation, reaching, and crawling to ask what quantities infants discriminate and represent visually, auditorily as well as intermodally. The concensus view from these studies is that infants possess a numerical system that is amodal and applicable to the quantification of any kind of entity and that this system is fundamentally separate from other systems that represent continuous magnitude. Although there is much evidence consistent with this view, there are also inconsistencies in the data. This paper provides a broad review of what we know, including the evidence suggesting systematic early knowledge as well as the peculiarities and gaps in the empirical findings with respect to the concensus view. We argue, from these inconsistencies, that the concensus view cannot be entirely correct. In light of the evidence, we propose a new hypothesis, the Signal Clarity hypothesis, that posits a developmental role for dimensions of continuous quantity within the discrete quantity system and calls for a broader research agenda that considers the covariation of discrete and continuous quantities not simply as a problem for experimental control but as information that developing infants may use to build more precise and robust representations of number.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Cantrell
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
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Cacchione T. The foundations of object permanence: Does perceived cohesion determine infants’ appreciation of the continuous existence of material objects? Cognition 2013; 128:397-406. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.05.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2012] [Revised: 04/23/2013] [Accepted: 05/07/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Chu FW, Vanmarle K, Geary DC. Quantitative deficits of preschool children at risk for mathematical learning disability. Front Psychol 2013; 4:195. [PMID: 23720643 PMCID: PMC3655274 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2013] [Accepted: 04/01/2013] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The study tested the hypothesis that acuity of the potentially inherent approximate number system (ANS) contributes to risk of mathematical learning disability (MLD). Sixty-eight (35 boys) preschoolers at risk for school failure were assessed on a battery of quantitative tasks, and on intelligence, executive control, preliteracy skills, and parental education. Mathematics achievement scores at the end of 1 year of preschool indicated that 34 of these children were at high risk for MLD. Relative to the 34 typically achieving children, the at risk children were less accurate on the ANS task, and a one standard deviation deficit on this task resulted in a 2.4-fold increase in the odds of MLD status. The at risk children also had a poor understanding of ordinal relations, and had slower learning of Arabic numerals, number words, and their cardinal values. Poor performance on these tasks resulted in 3.6- to 4.5-fold increases in the odds of MLD status. The results provide some support for the ANS hypothesis but also suggest these deficits are not the primary source of poor mathematics learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Felicia W Chu
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri Columbia, MO, USA
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26
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Uller C, Urquhart C, Lewis J, Berntsen M. Ten-Month-Old Infants' Reaching Choices for "more": The Relationship between Inter-Stimulus Distance and Number. Front Psychol 2013; 4:84. [PMID: 23471080 PMCID: PMC3590567 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2012] [Accepted: 02/06/2013] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Animals and human infants discriminate numerosities in visual sets. Experiments on visual numerical judgments generally contrast sets in which number varies (e.g., the discrimination between 2 and 3). What is less investigated, however, is set density, or rather, the inter-stimulus distance between the entities being enumerated in a set. In this study, we investigated the role of set density in visual sets by 10-month-old infants. In Experiment 1, infants were offered a choice between two sets each containing four items of the exact same size varying in the distance in between the items (ratio 1:4). Infants selected the set in which the items are close together (higher density). Experiment 2 addressed the possibility that this choice was driven by a strategy to “select all in one go” by reducing the size and distance of items. Ten-month-olds selected the sets with higher density (less inter-stimulus distance) in both experiments. These results, although bearing replication because of their originality, seem consistent with principles in Optimal Foraging in animals. They provide evidence that a comparable rudimentary capacity for density assessment (of food items) exists in infants, and may work in concert with their numerical representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Uller
- School of Psychology, Criminology and Sociology, Kingston University, Kingston-upon-Thames Surrey, UK
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27
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Anderson US, Cordes S. 1 < 2 and 2 < 3: non-linguistic appreciations of numerical order. Front Psychol 2013; 4:5. [PMID: 23355830 PMCID: PMC3554834 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2012] [Accepted: 01/04/2013] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Ordinal understanding is involved in understanding social hierarchies, series of actions, and everyday events. Moreover, an appreciation of numerical order is critical to understanding number at a highly abstract, conceptual level. In this paper, we review findings concerning the development and expression of ordinal numerical knowledge in preverbal human infants in light of literature about the same cognitive abilities in non-human animals. We attempt to reconcile seemingly contradictory evidence, provide new directions for prospective research, and evaluate the shared basis of ordinal knowledge among non-verbal organisms. Our review of the research leads us to conclude that both infants and non-human animals are adapted to respond to monotonic progressions in numerical order, consonant with mathematical definitions of numerical order. Further, we suggest that patterns in the way that infants and non-human animals process numerical order can be accounted for by changes across development, the conditions under which representations are generated, or both.
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28
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Howe PDL, Holcombe AO, Lapierre MD, Cropper SJ. Visually Tracking and Localizing Expanding and Contracting Objects. Perception 2013; 42:1281-300. [DOI: 10.1068/p7635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
The maintenance of attention on moving objects is required for cognition to reliably engage with the visual world. Theories of object tracking need to explain on which patterns of visual stimulation one can easily maintain attention and on which patterns one cannot. A previous study has shown that it is easier to track rigid objects than objects that expand and contract along their direction of motion, in a manner that resembles a substance pouring from one location to another (vanMarle and Scholl 2003 Psychological Science14 498–504). Here we investigate six possible explanations for this finding and find evidence supporting two of them. Our results show that, first, objects that expand and contract tend to overlap and crowd each other more, and this increases tracking difficulty. Second, expansion and contraction make it harder to localize objects, even when there is only a single target to attend to, and this may also increase tracking difficulty. Currently, there is no theory of object tracking that can account for the second finding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piers D L Howe
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | | | - Mark D Lapierre
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Simon J Cropper
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
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29
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Garland A, Low J, Burns KC. Large quantity discrimination by North Island robins (Petroica longipes). Anim Cogn 2012; 15:1129-40. [PMID: 22825034 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-012-0537-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2011] [Revised: 06/25/2012] [Accepted: 07/09/2012] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
While numerosity-representation and enumeration of different numbers of objects-and quantity discrimination in particular have been studied in a wide range of species, very little is known about the numerical abilities of animals in the wild. This study examined spontaneous relative quantity judgments (RQJs) by wild North Island robins (Petroica longipes) of New Zealand. In Experiment 1, robins were tested on a range of numerical values of up to 14 versus 16 items, which were sequentially presented and hidden. In Experiment 2, the same numerical contrasts were tested on a different group of subjects but quantities were presented as whole visible sets. Experiment 3 involved whole visible sets that comprised of exceedingly large quantities of up to 56 versus 64 items. While robins shared with other species a ratio-based representation system for representing very large values, they also appeared to have developed an object indexing system with an extended upper limit (well beyond 4) that may be an evolutionary response to ecological challenges faced by scatter-hoarding birds. These results suggest that cognitive mechanism influencing an understanding of physical quantity may be deployed more flexibly in some contexts than previously thought, and are discussed in light of findings across other mammalian and avian species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexis Garland
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
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30
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vanMarle K. Infants use different mechanisms to make small and large number ordinal judgments. J Exp Child Psychol 2012; 114:102-10. [PMID: 22608189 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2012.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2012] [Revised: 04/13/2012] [Accepted: 04/13/2012] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Previous research has shown indirectly that infants may use two different mechanisms--an object tracking system and an analog magnitude mechanism--to represent small (<4) and large (≥4) numbers of objects, respectively. The current study directly tested this hypothesis in an ordinal choice task by presenting 10- to 12-month-olds with a choice between different numbers of hidden food items. Infants reliably chose the larger amount when choosing between two exclusively small (1 vs. 2) or large (4 vs. 8) sets, but they performed at chance when one set was small and the other was large (2 vs. 4) even when the ratio between the sets was very favorable (2 vs. 8). The current findings support the two-mechanism hypothesis and, furthermore, suggest that the representations from the object tracking system and the analog magnitude mechanism are incommensurable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristy vanMarle
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
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31
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Abstract
Infants can track small groups of solid objects, and infants can respond when these quantities change. But earlier work is equivocal about whether infants can track continuous substances, such as piles of sand. Experiment 1 (N = 88) used a habituation paradigm to show infants can register changes in the size of piles of sand that they see poured from a container when there is a 1-to-4 ratio. Experiment 2 (N = 82) tested whether infants could discriminate a 1-to-2 ratio. The results demonstrate that females could discriminate the difference but males could not. These findings constitute the youngest evidence of successful quantity discriminations for a noncohesive substance and begin to characterize the nature of the representation for noncohesive entities.
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32
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Hespos SJ, vanMarle K. Physics for infants: characterizing the origins of knowledge about objects, substances, and number. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2011; 3:19-27. [DOI: 10.1002/wcs.157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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