感数的认知机制：从注意到工作记忆

感数(subitizing)是对小数精确而迅速的知觉, 它反映了有机体的一种基本数量表征能力。研究者曾一度认为感数是一个前注意的并行加工过程, 近年来的一些研究发现感数是需要注意资源的, 但是注意资源假设不能有效解释感数与计数的分离。为解决这一困惑, 本文综述了感数和视空间工作记忆的相似性, 在此基础上提出一种新的观点来解释感数的认知机制：视空间工作记忆容量决定了个体一次能精确知觉到的客体的数量, 而注意决定了哪些信息进入视空间工作记忆。

The Cognitive Mechanism of Subitizing: From Attention to Working Memory

Subitizing, the fast and accurate perception of up to about 3 or 4 objects, reflects a basic capacity of numerical representation of organism. It used to be considered as a parallel preattentive process. Recently, some studies found that subitizing, like counting, required attention resources. However, the attention resource hypothesis could not powerfully explain the discontinuity between subitizing and counting. To disentangle the confusion, this review summarized recent studies on visuo-spatial working m...