Neural measures reveal a fixed item limit in subitizing

Journal of Neuroscience

Volumn 32, Issue 21, 2012, Pages 7169-7177

  Ester, Edward F ^a   Drew, Trafton ^b   Klee, Daniel ^c   Vogel, Edward K ^c   Awh, Edward ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^b BRIGHAM AND WOMEN S HOSPITAL   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF OREGON   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; BEHAVIOR; COGNITION; ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY; ELECTROOCULOGRAM; ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY; EVENT RELATED POTENTIAL; FEMALE; HUMAN; HUMAN EXPERIMENT; INDIVIDUALIZATION; MALE; MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS; MODEL; NORMAL HUMAN; PREDICTION; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SPIKE; STIMULUS; SUBITIZING; TASK PERFORMANCE;

ADULT; EVOKED POTENTIALS, VISUAL; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; PHOTIC STIMULATION; PSYCHOMOTOR PERFORMANCE; REACTION TIME; VISUAL PERCEPTION;

EID: 84861326682     PISSN: 02706474     EISSN: 15292401     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1218-12.2012     Document Type: Article

References (39)

1. Anderson DE, Vogel EK, Awh E (2011) Precision in visual working memory reaches a stable plateau when individual item limits are exceeded. J Neurosci 31:1128-1138.
2. Awh E, Barton B, Vogel EK (2007) Visual working memory represents a fixed number of items regardless of complexity. Psychol Sci 18:622-628.
3. Balakrishnan JD, Ashby FG (1991) Is subitizing a unique numerical ability? Percept Psychophys 50:555-564.
4. Balakrishnan JD, Ashby FG (1992) Subitizing: magical numbers or mere superstition? Psychol Res 54:80-90.
5. Brainard DH (1997) The psychophysics toolbox. Spat Vis 10:433-436.
6. Carlisle NB, Woodman GF (2011) When memory is not enough: electrophysiological evidence for goal-dependent use of working memory representations in guiding visual attention. J Cogn Neurosci 23:2650-2664.
7. Cusack R, Mitchell DJ, Duncan J (2010) Discrete object representation, attention switching, and task difficulty in the parietal lobe. J Cogn Neurosci 22:32-47.
8. Dehaene S, Changeux JP (1993) Development of elementary numerical abilities: a neuronal model. J Cogn Neurosci 5:390-407.
9. Dehaene S, Dehaene-Lambertz G, Cohen L (1998) Abstract representations of numbers in the animal and human brain. Trends Neurosci 21:355-361.
10. Drew T, Vogel EK (2008) Neural measures of individual differences in selecting and tracking multiple moving objects. J Neurosci 28:4183-4191.
11. Eimer M (1996) The N2pc component as an indicator of attentional selectivity. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 99:225-234.
12. Fukuda K, Awh E, Vogel EK (2010) Discrete capacity limits in visual working memory. Curr Opin Neurobiol 20:177-182.
13. Gallistel CR, Gelman R (1992) Preverbal and verbal counting and computation. Cognition 44:43-74.
14. Green CS, Bavelier D (2006) Enumeration versus multiple-object tracking: the case of action video game players. Cognition 101:217-245.
15. Halberda J, Sires SF, Feigenson L (2006) Multiple spatially overlapping sets can be enumerated in parallel. Psychol Sci 17:572-576.
16. Hickey C, Di Lollo V, McDonald JJ (2009) Electrophysiological indices of target and distractor processing in visual search. J Cogn Neurosci 21:760-775.
17. Jevons WS (1871) The power of numerical discrimination. Nature 3:281-282.
18. Kaufman EL, Lord MW (1949) The discrimination of visual number. Am J Psychol 62:498-525.
19. Luck SJ, Hillyard SA (1994) Spatial filtering during visual search: evidence from human electrophysiology. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 20:1000-1014.
20. Mandler G, Shebo BJ (1982) Subitizing: an analysis of its component processes. J Exp Psychol Gen 111:1-22.
21. Mazza V, Caramazza A (2011) Temporal brain dynamics of multiple object processing: the flexibility of individuation. PLoS One 6:e17453.
22. McCollough AW, Machizawa MG, Vogel EK (2007) Electrophysiological measures of maintaining representations in visual working memory. Cortex 43:77-94.
23. Mitchell DJ, Cusack R (2008) Flexible, capacity-limited activity of posterior parietal cortex in perceptual as well as visual short-term memory tasks. Cereb Cortex 18:1788-1798.
24. Palomares M, Egeth H (2010) How element visibility affects visual enumeration. Vis Res 50:2000-2007.
25. Palomares M, Smith PR, Pitts CH, Carter BM (2011) The effect of viewing eccentricity on enumeration. PLoS One 6:e20779.
26. Pelli DG (1997) The VideoToolbox software for visual psychophysics: transforming numbers into movies. Spat Vis 10:437-442.
27. Piazza M, Fumarola A, Chinello A, Melcher D (2011) Subitizing reflects visuo-spatial object individuation capacity. Cognition 121:147-153.
28. Revkin SK, Piazza M, Izard V, Cohen L, Dehaene S (2008) Does subitizing reflect numerical estimation? Psychol Sci 19:607-614.
29. Sawaki R, Luck SJ (2011) Active suppression of distractors that match the contents of visual working memory. Vis Cogn 19:956-972.
30. Sperling G (1960) The information available in brief visual presentations. Psychol Monogr 74:1-29.
31. Treisman AM, Gelade G (1980) A feature-integration theory of attention. Cogn Psychol 12:97-136.
32. Trick LM (2008) More than superstition: differential effects of featural heterogeneity and change on subitizing and counting. Percept Psychophys 70:743-760.
33. Trick LM, Pylyshyn ZW (1993) What enumeration studies can show us about spatial attention: evidence for limited capacity preattentive processing. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 19:331-351.
34. Trick LM, Pylyshyn ZW (1994) Why are small and large numbers enumerated differently? A limited-capacity preattentive stage in vision. Psychol Rev 101:80-102.
35. Vogel EK, Machizawa MG (2004) Neural activity predicts individual differences in visual working memory capacity. Nature 428:748-751.
36. Woodman GF, Luck SJ (1999) Electrophysiological measurement of rapid shifts of attention during visual search. Nature 400:867-869.
37. Woodman GF, Luck SJ (2003) Serial deployment of attention during visual search. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 29:121-138.
38. Xu Y, Chun MM (2009) Selecting and perceiving multiple visual objects. Trends Cogn Sci 13:167-174.
39. Zhang W, Luck SJ (2008) Discrete fixed-resolution representations in visual working memory. Nature 453:233-235.