{"pk":25562,"title":"Development of Numerosity Estimation: A Linear to Logarithmic Shift?","subtitle":null,"abstract":"Young children’s estimates of numerosity increase approximately\nlogarithmically with actual set size. The conventional\ninterpretation of this finding is that children’s estimates reflect\nan innate logarithmic encoding of number. A recent set of\nfindings, however, suggest logarithmic number-line estimates\ncould emerge via a dynamic encoding mechanism that is sensitive\nto the prior distribution of stimuli. Here we test this idea by\nexamining trial-to-trial changes in logarithmicity of numerosity\nestimates. Against the dynamic encoding hypothesis, first\ntrial estimates in both adults (Study 1) and adults and children\n(Study 2) were strongly logarithmic, despite there being zero\nprevious stimuli. Additionally, although numerosity of a previous\ntrial affected adult estimates of numerosity, the nature\nof this effect varied across experiments, yet always resulted in\na logarithmic-to-linear shift from trial-to-trial. These results\nsuggest that a dynamic encoding mechanism is neither necessary\nnor sufficient to elicit logarithmic estimates of numerosity","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[{"word":"cognitive development; numerical cognition; spatial\ncognition; numerosity perception"}],"section":"Papers","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7pk9p7fx","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Dan","middle_name":"","last_name":"Kim","name_suffix":"","institution":"Ohio State University","department":""},{"first_name":"John","middle_name":"E","last_name":"Opfer","name_suffix":"","institution":"Ohio State University","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2015-01-01T18:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/25562/galley/15186/download/"}]}