Science of Emotion and Sensibility (감성과학)

Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility (한국감성과학회)
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A Study of Individual Differences across Numerosity Sensitivity, Visual Working Memory and Visual Attention

수량민감도와 시각작업기억 및 시각적 주의 간 개인차 연구

  • Kim, Giyeon (Department of Psychology, Chung-Ang University) ;
  • Cho, Soohyun (Department of Psychology, Chung-Ang University) ;
  • Hyun, Joo-Seok (Department of Psychology, Chung-Ang University)
  • Received : 2014.12.09
  • Accepted : 2015.04.21
  • Published : 2015.06.30
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Abstract

Numerosity perception is considered as an innate ability of human being where its sensivitiy may widely vary across each individual person. The present study explored the relationship between visual working memory (VWM), visual search efficiency, and numerosity sensitivity. To accomplish this, we calculated each participant's K-value from change detection performance representing one's storage capacity in VWM, slopes of search RTs representing the search efficiency, and discrimination sensitivity for a quantity difference across two sets of dot arrays representing the numerosity sensitivity. The correlational analysis across the measurements revealed that participants with a high VWM capacity better discriminated the numerosity difference in the arrays when the spatial information in the two dot arrays was preserved. In contrast, the participants with high search efficiency discriminated better the difference in the arrays when the spatial information in the arrays was not preserved. The results indicate high VWM-capacity individuals were presumably able to use a strategy of storing the dot arrays by grouping them into a smaller pattern of dot arrays while high search-efficiency individuals were able to use a strategy of rapidly switching their focused attention across the dots in the arrays to count each individual dot. These in sum suggest that individual differences in numerosity sensitivity rely on one's working memory capacity as well as their efficient use of switching focused attention.

인간의 수량지각은 선천적인 능력으로 생각되지만 그 민감도에 있어서는 개인차가 존재할 가능성이 크다. 본 연구는 시각작업기억과 시각탐색 효율성 그리고 수량민감도 능력 간의 상관 여부를 조사하였다. 이를 위해 변화탐지 수행 능력에 기초해 개인의 작업기억 저장용량을 정량화시킨 K-값, 시각탐색 효율성의 지표인 탐색함수의 기울기 그리고 두 점 배열내의 점 개수 간 수량 차이에 대한 민감도를 각각 측정하였다. 이들에 대한 상관 관계분석 결과 시각작업기억 고용량 개인의 경우 점 배열 간 위치 정보가 보전되었을 때 수량 차이에 상대적으로 저용량 개인에 비해 민감했던 반면, 시각탐색 고효율 개인의 경우 점 배열 간 위치 정보가 보전되지 않았을 때 수량 차이에 상대적으로 민감했다. 이러한 결과는 작업기억 고용량 개인들의 경우 점배열을 소수의 점 패턴 형태로 군집화하는 책략을 사용했을 가능성과 함께, 고효율 시각탐색이 가능한 개인들은 배열 내의 개별 점들에 대해 초점 주의를 상대적으로 신속하게 이용하는 책략을 사용했을 가능성을 시사한다. 종합해 볼 때, 개인들의 수량 민감도는 개인의 작업기억 용량 및 초점주의 이동의 효율성에 의존할 가능성이 있는 것으로 판단된다.

Keywords

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