Humans and other species have perceptual mechanisms dedicated to estimating approximate quantity: a sense of number. Here we show a clear interaction between self-produced actions and the perceived numerosity of subsequent visual stimuli. A short period of rapid finger-tapping (without sensory feedback) caused subjects to underestimate the number of visual stimuli presented near the tapping region; and a period of slow tapping caused overestimation. The distortions occurred both for stimuli presented sequentially (series of flashes) and simultaneously (clouds of dots); both for magnitude estimation and forced-choice comparison. The adaptation was spatially selective, primarily in external, real-world coordinates. Our results sit well with studies reporting links between perception and action, showing that vision and action share mechanisms that encode numbers: a generalized number sense, which estimates the number of self-generated as well as external events.

A shared numerical representation for action and perception / Anobile, Giovanni; Arrighi, Roberto; Togoli, Irene; Burr, David Charles. - In: ELIFE. - ISSN 2050-084X. - ELETTRONICO. - 5:(2016), pp. 0-0. [http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.16161.001]

A shared numerical representation for action and perception.

ANOBILE, GIOVANNI;ARRIGHI, ROBERTO;TOGOLI, IRENE;BURR, DAVID CHARLES
2016

Abstract

Humans and other species have perceptual mechanisms dedicated to estimating approximate quantity: a sense of number. Here we show a clear interaction between self-produced actions and the perceived numerosity of subsequent visual stimuli. A short period of rapid finger-tapping (without sensory feedback) caused subjects to underestimate the number of visual stimuli presented near the tapping region; and a period of slow tapping caused overestimation. The distortions occurred both for stimuli presented sequentially (series of flashes) and simultaneously (clouds of dots); both for magnitude estimation and forced-choice comparison. The adaptation was spatially selective, primarily in external, real-world coordinates. Our results sit well with studies reporting links between perception and action, showing that vision and action share mechanisms that encode numbers: a generalized number sense, which estimates the number of self-generated as well as external events.
2016
5
0
0
Anobile, Giovanni; Arrighi, Roberto; Togoli, Irene; Burr, David Charles
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Descrizione: A shared numerical representation for action and perception
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Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/1054220
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