Asymmetry In Subitizing:Temporal Segmentation But Not Integration Requires More Object Individuation

Object individuation is strictly limited in capacity,in terms of subitizing ranges.Previous studies of capacity have emphasized spatial limits in the number of objects that can be apprehended simultaneously.However,the role of time in capacity limits has been almost neglected.Here,in there experiments,we measured this temporal window as coordinating individuation and temporal integration window(TIW),using a variant of the missing dot task.In Experiment 1,temporal integration and segmentation thresholds were measured within the same participant,using the same stimuli,in order to find appropriate interstimulus interval(ISI).In Experiment 2,participants saw a sequence of two displays separated by an(ISI)that determined in Experiment 1,coupling with times(three times,four times or five times)in manipulation,which was designed to assess whether temporal integration and segmentation would modulate subitizing processing in object individuation and was influenced by environment variable(manipulation times).In experiment 3,EEG was used to explore the difference of sensory number between time integration and time separation under passive observation and number enumeration tasks.Temporal segmentation was more accurate,stable and was immune to experimental noise and other factors than temporal integration within subitizing ranges,suggesting that the priority of temporal segmentation may originate from the early stage of visual perceptual processing and perceptual sensitivity is far more adaptive than stability and continuity.