Uller, Claudia, Urquhart, Callum, Lewis, Jennifer and Berntsen, Monica (2013) Ten-month-old infants' reaching choices for "more": The relationship between inter-stimulus distance and number. Frontiers in Psychology, 4:84. ISSN 1664-1078 (Online) (doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00084)

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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.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This Document is Protected by copyright and was first published by Frontiers. All rights reserved. it is reproduced with permission.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Density assessment; Number; Infancy; Representation
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Human Sciences (HUM)
Related URLs:	Organisation
Last Modified:	09 Jan 2017 17:02
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/16157

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