Book contents
- Representing Relationships
- Representing Relationships
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Reviews
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Modes of Minding Social Action: Bodily Indices of Unity, Dimensional Icons of Rank, Concrete Matching Operations of Equality, Arbitrary Symbols of Proportions
- Part II Consubstantial Assimilation: The Conformation System of Communal Sharing
- Part III Iconic Dimensions and Magnitudes: The Conformation System of Authority Ranking
- Chapter 6 Your Highness
- Chapter 7 Architectural Mass, Volume, Surface Area, and Elevation
- Chapter 8 In Front, More Numerous, Earlier, and Greater Force
- Chapter 9 Luminosity and Loudness
- Chapter 10 The Dimensions and Magnitudes that Conform Authority Ranking
- Chapter 11 Iconic Metaconformations in Language
- Chapter 12 Experimental Research on Western Adults’ and Infants’ Cognitive Representations of Rank
- Chapter 13 The Biology of Iconic Dimensions and Magnitudes
- Part IV Concrete Operations of One-to-One Correspondence for Equality Matching, Arbitrary Symbolism for Market Pricing, Combinations of Conformations, and What Children Discover
- References
- Index
Chapter 13 - The Biology of Iconic Dimensions and Magnitudes
from Part III - Iconic Dimensions and Magnitudes: The Conformation System of Authority Ranking
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 November 2025
Book contents
- Representing Relationships
- Representing Relationships
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Reviews
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Modes of Minding Social Action: Bodily Indices of Unity, Dimensional Icons of Rank, Concrete Matching Operations of Equality, Arbitrary Symbols of Proportions
- Part II Consubstantial Assimilation: The Conformation System of Communal Sharing
- Part III Iconic Dimensions and Magnitudes: The Conformation System of Authority Ranking
- Chapter 6 Your Highness
- Chapter 7 Architectural Mass, Volume, Surface Area, and Elevation
- Chapter 8 In Front, More Numerous, Earlier, and Greater Force
- Chapter 9 Luminosity and Loudness
- Chapter 10 The Dimensions and Magnitudes that Conform Authority Ranking
- Chapter 11 Iconic Metaconformations in Language
- Chapter 12 Experimental Research on Western Adults’ and Infants’ Cognitive Representations of Rank
- Chapter 13 The Biology of Iconic Dimensions and Magnitudes
- Part IV Concrete Operations of One-to-One Correspondence for Equality Matching, Arbitrary Symbolism for Market Pricing, Combinations of Conformations, and What Children Discover
- References
- Index
Summary
Without counting, adult and infant humans and many other animals are able to compare amounts of solids, intensities of stimuli, and quantities of discrete objects or stimuli – if the sizes of the sets being compared differ by a large enough ratio. For example, an infant of a given age might be able to identify the larger of two sets, where one set consists of forty items and the other set ten items, so a ratio of 4:1. The same infant might not be able to recognize which was larger, a set of 10 items and a set of 5. The cognitive system that makes these > or < discriminations is called the analog magnitude system, or the approximate magnitude system (AMS). The principle neuropsychological substrate of this system is in the lateral segment of the intraparietal sulcus. This same region is activated when people compare social ranks.
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- Representing RelationshipsModes of Cognition and Connection, pp. 282 - 292Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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