Eye movements in enumerating visual dot arrays: The significance for math cognition
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1
University of Melbourne, School of Psychological Sciences, Australia
Individual differences in the ability to enumerate visual dot arrays, and especially to subitize small numerosity arrays, are related to math problem solving; however, the reason for this relationship is the subject of much debate. We test the hypothesis that differences in dot enumeration (DE) abilities, and ipso facto math abilities, reflect differences in visual scanning efficiency. To test this claim we analysed eye movement patterns of ten adults as they completed a DE task. Visual and numerosity information in DE displays varied as a function of dot canonicity and set size. Randomly generated arrays comprising 1 through 12 dots were presented at 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270° orientation in which inter-dot distances remained constant. In separate trial blocks, participants either judged the number of dots or the apparent canonicity of displays. Analyses show similar fixation patterns across participants, differences in visual scanning efficiency, but similar gaze path for repeated trials. Participants did not fixate "dot clusters" when viewing identical, rotated dot arrays, suggesting visual enumeration processing are driven by global image biases and local scene statistics. Nevertheless, eye movements were predictable both within- and across-participants as a function of dot numerosity and canonicity. Post-experimental probes showed that participants were unaware they had viewed identical dot patterns; however, reports on scanning strategies corresponded with fixation patterns. Differences in visual scanning efficiency (i.e., subitizing span) were related to subjective judgements about display canonicity and to mental addition and subtraction abilities. These are the first findings to show that meaningful individual differences in DE eye movement scans are related to differences in subitizing and computation abilities. The findings raise the possibility that eye movement patterns have diagnostic value in assessing math abilities.
Keywords:
Eye Movements,
individual differences,
Numerical cognition,
Enumeration,
Subitizing
Conference:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Cognition and Executive Processes
Citation:
Paul
J,
Forte
J and
Reeve
R
(2015). Eye movements in enumerating visual dot arrays: The significance for math cognition.
Conference Abstract:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00229
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Received:
19 Feb 2015;
Published Online:
24 Apr 2015.
*
Correspondence:
Mr. Jacob Paul, University of Melbourne, School of Psychological Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, jpaacuolb@gmail.com