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The association of brightness with number/duration in human newborns

Author

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  • Cory D Bonn
  • Maria-Eirini Netskou
  • Arlette Streri
  • Maria Dolores de Hevia

Abstract

Human neonates spontaneously associate changes in magnitude across the dimensions of number, length, and duration. Do these particular associations generalize to other pairs of magnitudes in the same way at birth, or do they reflect an early predisposition to expect specific relations between spatial, temporal, and numerical representations? To begin to answer this question, we investigated how strongly newborns associated auditory sequences changing in number/duration with visual objects changing in levels of brightness. We tested forty-eight newborn infants in one of three, bimodal stimulus conditions in which auditory numbers/durations increased or decreased from a familiarization trial to the two test trials. Auditory numbers/durations were paired with visual objects in familiarization that remained the same on one test trial but changed in luminance/contrast or shape on the other. On average, results indicated that newborns looked longer when changes in brightness accompanied the number/duration change as compared to no change, a preference that was most consistent when the brightness change was congruent with the number/duration change. For incongruent changes, this preference depended on trial order. Critically, infants showed no preference for a shape change over no shape change, indicating that infants likely treated brightness differently than a generic feature. Though this performance pattern is somewhat similar to previously documented associations, these findings suggest that cross-magnitude associations among number, length, and duration may be more specialized at birth, rather than emerge gradually from postnatal experience or maturation.

Suggested Citation

  • Cory D Bonn & Maria-Eirini Netskou & Arlette Streri & Maria Dolores de Hevia, 2019. "The association of brightness with number/duration in human newborns," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-23, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0223192
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223192
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Maria Dolores de Hevia & Elizabeth S Spelke, 2013. "Not All Continuous Dimensions Map Equally: Number-Brightness Mapping in Human Infants," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(11), pages 1-9, November.
    2. Konrad P Körding & Ulrik Beierholm & Wei Ji Ma & Steven Quartz & Joshua B Tenenbaum & Ladan Shams, 2007. "Causal Inference in Multisensory Perception," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(9), pages 1-10, September.
    3. Hermann Bulf & Viola Macchi Cassia & Maria Dolores de Hevia, 2014. "Are Numbers, Size and Brightness Equally Efficient in Orienting Visual Attention? Evidence from an Eye-Tracking Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(6), pages 1-6, June.
    4. Celeste Kidd & Steven T Piantadosi & Richard N Aslin, 2012. "The Goldilocks Effect: Human Infants Allocate Attention to Visual Sequences That Are Neither Too Simple Nor Too Complex," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(5), pages 1-8, May.
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