How Experience Shapes Numeral Recognition

Familiar symbols, different experience

How does experience with a numeral system affect the way its symbols are perceived? In this coauthored study, English- and Chinese-speaking participants identified noisy Arabic, Chinese and Thai numerals, as well as dot patterns.

From errors to representations

We used a Luce choice model to adjust confusion patterns for response tendencies, then multidimensional scaling to compare the resulting similarity structures. These are model-based estimates of perceptual similarity, rather than direct observations of a mental representation.

What changed with familiarity?

The groups produced similar structures for unfamiliar Thai numerals and dot patterns, with a larger difference for Chinese numerals. Visual similarity remained an important organising feature even for familiar symbols.

The study shows how recognition errors can inform a theory of perceptual expertise. With 11 participants in each language group, it does not establish a universal effect of culture or separate numerical meaning from visual similarity in every stimulus set.