Does colour influence subitization

Abstract A reaction time experiment was performed with patterns that have a close resemblance to the patterns used in the Bourdon-Vos test. These patterns were of three, four and five dots arranged in different familiar shapes. Subjects had to determine as fast as possible whether four dots had been presented. In the Bourdon-Vos test the dots are achromatic, while in this experiment, colour was used as a distractor. The reaction time was the same for the one-colour dot patterns as for the two-colour dot patterns. It is hypothesised that the lack of difference was due to overlearnedness of forms in the classic Bourdon-Vos test. A similar test was performed with only one type of forms. Reaction times were different for one- and two-colour dot patterns in the latter experiment.

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