The Additive-Area Heuristic: An Efficient but Illusory Means of Visual Area Approximation.

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  • Author(s): Yousif SR;Yousif SR; Keil FC; Keil FC
  • Source:
    Psychological science [Psychol Sci] 2019 Apr; Vol. 30 (4), pp. 495-503. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Feb 26.
  • Publication Type:
    Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Language:
    English
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Sage Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 9007542 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1467-9280 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 09567976 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Psychol Sci Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: 2010-> : Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage
      Original Publication: New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, c1990-
    • Subject Terms:
      Heuristics* ; Optical Illusions* ; Pattern Recognition, Visual* ; Space Perception*; Humans ; Size Perception ; Visual Perception
    • Abstract:
      How do we determine how much of something is present? A large body of research has investigated the mechanisms and consequences of number estimation, yet surprisingly little work has investigated area estimation. Indeed, area is often treated as a pesky confound in the study of number. Here, we describe the additive-area heuristic, a means of rapidly estimating visual area that results in substantial distortions of perceived area in many contexts, visible even in simple demonstrations. We show that when we controlled for additive area, observers were unable to discriminate on the basis of true area, per se, and that these results could not be explained by other spatial dimensions. These findings reflect a powerful perceptual illusion in their own right but also have implications for other work, namely, that which relies on area controls to support claims about number estimation. We discuss several areas of research potentially affected by these findings.
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: numerical cognition; open data; open materials; preregistered; size discrimination; visual perception
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20190227 Date Completed: 20200508 Latest Revision: 20200508
    • Publication Date:
      20231215
    • Accession Number:
      10.1177/0956797619831617
    • Accession Number:
      30807263