Computational Evidence for the Subitizing Phenomenon as an Emergent
Property of the Human Cognitive Architecture
Scott A. Peterson
Tony J. Simon
Abstract
A computational modeling approach was used to test one possible
explanation for the limited capacity of the subitizing phenomenon. Most
existing models of this phenomenon associate the subitizing span with an
assumed structural limitation of the human information processing
system. In contrast, we show how this limit might emerge as the
combinatorics of the space of enumeration problems interacts with the
human cognitive architecture in the context of an enumeration task.
Subitizing-like behavior was generated in two different models of
enumeration, one based on the ACT-R cognitive architecture and the other
based on the principles of parallel distributed processing (PDP). Our
results provide good qualitative fits to results obtained in a variety
of empirical studies.
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