Regularity, Exposure Time and Perception of Numerosity

Two experiments are described. In Exp. 1, subjects compared the apparent numerosity of two kinds of dot patterns, regular vs irregular, with two different exposures (160 vs 2000 msec.). In Exp. 2, the subjects had to estimate the numerosity of the same patterns, presented one at a time. Analysis showed a relative overestimation of the regular patterns in Exp. 1 but not in Exp. 2. In general an overestimation occurred with an increase in exposure. Such results support our hypothesis of two separate processes as the basis of the two kinds of performance (estimating vs comparison).