Loading…

Finding the subitizing in groupitizing: Evidence for parallel subitizing of dots and groups in grouped arrays

‘Groupitizing’ refers to the observation that visually grouped arrays can be accurately enumerated much faster than can unstructured arrays. Previous research suggests that visual grouping allows participants to draw on arithmetic abilities and possibly use mental calculations to enumerate grouped a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Theresa Wege, Kelly Trezise, Matthew Inglis
Format: Default Article
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2134/16652098.v1
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:‘Groupitizing’ refers to the observation that visually grouped arrays can be accurately enumerated much faster than can unstructured arrays. Previous research suggests that visual grouping allows participants to draw on arithmetic abilities and possibly use mental calculations to enumerate grouped arrays quickly and accurately. Here, we address how subitizing might be involved in finding the operands for mental calculations in grouped dot arrays. We investigated whether participants can use multiple subitizing processes to enumerate both the number of dots and the number of groups in a grouped array. We found that these multiple subitizing processes can take place within 150 ms and that dots and groups seem to be subitized in parallel and with equal priority. Implications for research on mechanisms of groupitizing are discussed.