Perceived numerosity

In Experiments 1 and 2, dots appeared less numerous when bunched together on a sheet than when spread out over a larger area, and apparent numerosity proved to be a power function, with exponents of 0.72 (Experiment 1) and 0.78 (Experiment 2), of objective numerosity. In Experiment 3, where Xs were shown instead of dots, the exponent was 0.77. In Experiment 4, where Ss made magnitude productions rather than magnitude estimations of the Xs, the exponent was 0.94. The overall results indicate an exponent of about 0.85 for dots or Xs presented.