this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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Science

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Your brain finds it easy to size up four objects but not five — here’s why (www.nature.com)
submitted 11 months ago by Infrapink@kbin.social to c/science@beehaw.org
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An experiment found that the brain uses one set of neural circuits to identify the numbers 1–4; these circuits are very specific to their own numbers. A separate set of circuits respond to the numbers 5–9; these are less precise, and are activated by adjacent numbers.

For this reason, it is easier to determine when there are four things than to determine there are five things.

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[–] StringTheory@beehaw.org 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

This is cool. I always wondered why I can instantly grasp 1 through 4, but 5 and up become abstract. Thank you for posting this!