Task-irrelevant spatial dividers facilitate counting and numerosity estimation

Abstract

Counting is characterized as a slow and error-prone action relying heavily on serial allocation of focused attention. However, quick and accurate counting is required for many real-world tasks (e.g., counting heads to ensure everyone is evacuated to a safe place in an emergency). Previous research suggests that task-irrelevant spatial dividers, which segment visual displays into small areas, facilitate focused attention and improve serial search. The present study investigated whether counting, which is also closely related to focused attention, can be facilitated by spatial dividers. Furthermore, the effect of spatial dividers on numerosity estimation, putatively dependent upon distributed attention, was also examined to provide insights into different types of number systems and different modes of visual attention. The results showed profound performance improvement by task-irrelevant spatial dividers in both counting and numerosity estimation tasks, indicating that spatial dividers may activate interaction between number and visual attention systems. Our findings provide the first evidence that task-irrelevant spatial dividers can be used to facilitate various types of numerical cognition.