The influence of increasing color variety on numerosity estimation and counting

TL;DR

This study shows that color variety affects how people estimate numbers and count, with different effects depending on whether colors are clustered or randomly arranged.

Contribution

The study reveals how color variety and spatial arrangement jointly influence numerosity estimation and counting through attention mechanisms.

Findings

High color variety leads to overestimation of quantities regardless of spatial arrangement.

Color improves counting performance when clustered but hinders it when randomly arranged.

Color interacts with spatial information to modulate focused attention during counting.

Abstract

Previous research has suggested that numerosity estimation and counting are closely related to distributed and focused attention, respectively (Chong & Evans, WIREs Cognitive Science, 2(6), 634–638, 2011). Given the critical role of color in guiding attention, this study investigated its effects on numerosity processing by manipulating both color variety (single color, medium variety, high variety) and spatial arrangement (clustered, random). Results from the estimation task revealed that high color variety led to a perceptual bias towards larger quantities, regardless of whether colors were clustered or randomly arranged. This implies that distributed attention may engage in a global assessment of color richness, with less emphasis on spatial arrangement. In contrast, the effect of color on counting was influenced by spatial arrangement: performance improved with clustered colors but declined with random color distribution. This indicates that color interacts with spatial information to modulate focused attention during serial numerosity processing. Taken together, our findings provide new insights into the interaction between numerical cognition and attention, highlighting the need for theories and models of numerical cognition to take into account feature variety and contextual factors, such as the spatial arrangement of features. Additionally, in light of the widespread diversity in real-world environments, our findings could inform strategies to enhance behavioral adaptation to varying environmental conditions.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.3758/s13423-024-02625-x.

Figures