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"Left" and "right" coordinates control our spatial behavior and even influence abstract thoughts. For number concepts, horizontal spatial-numerical associations (SNAs) have been widely documented: we associate few with left and many with right. Importantly, increments are universally coded on the right side even in preverbal humans and nonhuman animals, thus questioning the fundamental role of directional cultural habits, such as reading or finger counting. Here, we propose a biological, nonnumerical mechanism for the origin of SNAs on the basis of asymmetric tuning of animal brains for different spatial frequencies (SFs). The resulting selective visual processing predicts both universal SNAs and their context-dependence. We support our proposal by analyzing the stimuli used to document SNAs in newborns for their SF content. As predicted, the SFs contained in visual patterns with few versus many elements preferentially engage right versus left brain hemispheres, respectively, thus predicting left-versus rightward behavioral biases. Our "brain's asymmetric frequency tuning" hypothesis explains the perceptual origin of horizontal SNAs for nonsymbolic visual numerosities and might be extensible to the auditory domain.

In latest era, human–computer interaction has gained more popularity. The mouse is one of the best inventions in human–computer interaction technology. It is used to point the digital world content by using the physical module. To give this existing traditional way of technology an intelligence, we proposed a computer vision-based hand gesture recognition system to interact with the digital world. Our system controls mouse pointer using finger count and finger strip. Our approach mainly focuses on color segmentation, color tracking, extraction of finger contour, and finger counting algorithm. To add-upon this, a speech recognition-based method is used to perform some basic operations on our system. Therefore, the proposed system eliminates the device dependency to interact with the computer, and it would be considered as a good approach to a gesture-based interface for HCI in future.

Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is characterized by lower numerical and finger-related skills. Studies of enumeration among those DD that suggested core deficiency in pattern recognition, working memory or/and attention were mostly carried out in the visual modality. In our study, we examined visual (dots) enumeration of 1–10 stimuli and tactile (vibration) enumeration of 1–10 fingers among DD and matched-control adults. We used 800-ms stimuli exposure time of either random/non-neighboring or canonical/neighboring stimuli arrangements (visual/tactile). Compared to controls, those with DD responded faster in visual random enumeration and did not differ in reaction time (RT) of canonical stimuli arrangements. However, while the control group had near perfect accuracy in random stimuli arrangements of up to five stimuli, DD participants performed accurately for only up to four stimuli, and they were less accurate in the canonical stimuli arrangements in the counting range. In the tactile task, DD participants showed less accurate tactile enumeration only for neighboring arrangements, more profoundly for finger counting (FC) patterns. The longer exposure time in the visual task enabled us to explore pattern recognition effects when working memory and attention loads were low. We discuss possible modal-independent deficits in pattern recognition and working memory on enumeration performance among those with DD and the unique role of fingers in ordinal and cardinal representation of numbers.

Finger-numeral configurations are used to represent numerosities, to count, and to do arithmetic across cultures. Previous research has distinguished between two forms of finger-numeral configurations; finger montring and finger counting. Montring refers to how people raise their fingers to show numerosities to others and usually serves a communicative function. Finger counting is used both for counting and arithmetic, and has a self-directed, facilitative function. In this study we compared the ERP markers for recognition of montring, counting, and noncanonical finger-numeral configurations with adult participants to explore differences in early perceptual and later semantic processing. Montring configurations were recognized faster and more accurately compared to counting and noncanonical. Recognition of montring configurations drew larger attentional resources, marked by higher positivity in the P1/N1 range, and montring and counting showed similar patterns of semantic processing, marked by higher positivity in the P3 range compared to noncanonical, possibly due to strategy differences (memory recall vs. counting). We also found some ERP evidence for participants' finger counting habits affecting their processing of counting configurations. Overall, the results show differences in perceptual and semantic processes involved in extracting numerical information across the three finger-numeral configurations.

By recovering the history of simple finger counting techniques and their relevance to a wide range of enumerative and calculative technologies, this article argues that human fingers have long shaped the digital, and more importantly, that the digital has long shaped the fingers. The interfaces of calculating machines from the Roman abacus to the touchscreen calculators mathematize the body in very specific and consistent ways, such that the fingers have come to connote human reason just as fluids such as tears have come to connote human feeling. This embodied digitality naturalizes and humanizes the digital in ways that we have too often taken for granted. Digital calculating machines are not just utilitarian instruments under human control, but engines of hominization that, across much of the world today, define what it means to be human.

In this chapter, four stages are proposed for the evolutionary development of number systems in humans with special emphasis being given to neurocognitive and linguistic aspects of the evolutionary process. The four stages are: 1) number sense—innate quantitative competence without counting and language; 2) transition to syntactic language and counting skills; 3) transition from finger-counting to numeracy; and 4) establishment of a complex numerical lexicon and its notational instantiation. Evidence drawn from the archaeological record as well as contemporary ethnographic research is used to investigate the symbolic reference gap that exists between the two biologically given systems which allow for quantification judgments and those systems that are truly numerical in nature and hence culturally instantiated. The possible key role played by finger-counting, specifically as a bridging mechanism, in this evolutionary process is also highlighted.

The study has two objectives: (1) to introduce grip force recording as a new technique for studying embodied numerical processing; and (2) to demonstrate how three competing accounts of numerical magnitude representation can be tested by using this new technique: the Mental Number Line (MNL), A Theory of Magnitude (ATOM) and Embodied Cognition (finger counting-based) account. While 26 healthy adults processed visually presented single digits in a go/no-go n-back paradigm, their passive holding forces for two small sensors were recorded in both hands. Spontaneous and unconscious grip force changes related to number magnitude occurred in the left hand already 100–140 ms after stimulus presentation and continued systematically. Our results support a two-step model of number processing where an initial stage is related to the automatic activation of all stimulus properties whereas a later stage consists of deeper conscious processing of the stimulus. This interpretation generalizes previous work with linguistic stimuli and elaborates the timeline of embodied cognition. We hope that the use of grip force recording will advance the field of numerical cognition research.

Evidence has revealed an association between finger gnosis and arithmetic skills in young Western children, however, it is unknown whether such an association can be generalized to Chinese children and what mechanism may underlie this relationship. This study examines whether finger gnosis is associated with addition skills in young Chinese children and, if so, what numerical skills could explain this correlation. A total of 102 Chinese children aged 5-6 years were asked to complete finger gnosis and addition tasks in Study 1. Results showed that finger gnosis was significantly associated with addition performance. However, no significant correlation was found between finger gnosis and the use of finger counting in solving addition problems. Moreover, girls' finger gnosis was better than boys', and children with musical training demonstrated better finger gnosis than those without. In Study 2, 16 children with high finger gnosis and 20 children with low finger gnosis were selected from the children in Study 1 and asked to perform enumeration, order judgment, number sense, and number line estimation. Children with high finger gnosis performed better in number line estimation than their counterparts with low finger gnosis. Moreover, the number line estimation fully mediated the relationship between finger gnosis and addition performance. Together, these studies provide evidence of a correlation between finger gnosis and addition skills. They also highlight the importance of number line estimation in bridging this association.

International audience; Fingers have been recurrently associated with number development and mathematical achievement. Specifically finger gnosis have been considered as a potential precursor of numerical learning. However recent findings cast doubt on the existence of a link between finger gnosis and numerical skills. In fact, finger gnosis and canonical finger representations are both different aspects that could influence numerical development but have not been distinguished in previous research. The current study aimed at dissociating the specific contribution of both aspects in a longitudinal setting. Children were tested twice: at the end of kindergarten and nine months later, in first grade. We used two specific finger tasks a finger gnosis task and a rapid-automatized-naming of finger numeral configurations (finger RAN). Numerical representation was assessed by number line estimations in kindergarten and first grade. Results showed that finger gnosis were not related to numerical representation accuracy at any time point. Finger RAN performances though were uniquely related to the numerical representation accuracy one year later, even out of the range of finger counting. The visual recognition of numbers as supported by finger configuration thus seems to be important when fingers support numerical representations. The present findings have theoretical implications about the link between fingers and number(s) across development.

The hand with which one starts to count has been shown repeatedly to influence numerical performance. However, methods vary greatly in how researchers determine starting hand. As such, it is impossible to say whether starting hand reflects one construct that is being differently measured, or if these methods reflect different constructs. To investigate these possibilities, we employed a binary magnitude comparison task known to elicit spatial-numerical biases and embodied number magnitude effects, as well as both cardinal and ordinal assessments of starting hand. In addition to this, we further examined whether being made aware of one’s finger-counting habits prior to the numerical task (through a finger-counting inventory) may alter performance during a spatial-numerical reaction-time task. Ordinal and cardinal starting hand classifications disagreed significantly in their classification of left vs. right-starters and predicted different aspects of numerical performance, which further interacted with procedure-order. The pattern of results suggest that 1) ordinal and cardinal aspects of finger-counting are dissociable and predict differing aspects of embodied numerosity, and 2) that assessing finger counting habits before performing a numerical task may affect performance on that task. Therefore, these methodological variations have important theoretical ramifications and need to be reported in greater detail in future work.

Finger counting can be useful in solving arithmetic problems, noticeably because it reduces the working memory demand of mental calculations. However, proprioceptive information might not be suffic...

This is an analysis of the author’s involvement since 1970 in textbook development for primary schools and adult education in Mozambique, focusing on integrating local cultural traditions, covering the period up to 2013. As main example, addition of the type 8 + 5 = 13 is used around the question of whether textbooks (and curricula) advocate counting strategies and/or computation strategies. Different visualisations of these strategies in textbooks and corresponding manipulatives are analysed. During the 1990s, local languages started to be used in adult education, apart from Portuguese, Mozambique’s official language. Unschooled adults showed the importance of verbal computation in Mozambican languages—Bantu languages—most of which use also the auxiliary base five, apart from the base-ten numerals. The 2003 curriculum for primary education introduced the possibility of using local languages, and NGO’s started translating textbooks into 16 Mozambican languages. The paper includes an analysis of some of these textbooks and concludes with the author’s ideas in his teacher’s guides on teaching mathematics in Mozambican languages, showing the opportunities of verbal computation, exploring base-five numerals supported by finger gestures, instead of finger counting.

Previous research in embodied mathematical cognition has found differences between those who start counting on their left hand and those who start counting on the right hand. However, if starting hand is a finger-embodied effect, then finger-specific interference may affect these differences between left and right starters. Furthermore, cultures that demonstrate different finger-counting habits may also be differently affected by this interference. In the current study, a total of 66 Canadians and 60 Chinese participants completed a single/dual-task paradigm and were also assessed on their starting hand for counting. The primary task was to verbally answer simple arithmetic problems, while the dual task was to either sequentially tap their fingers or their foot. Contrary to predictions, a specific finger-movement interference pattern that had previously been reported was not evident in this study, despite a much larger sample. Nevertheless, Canadians left starters outperformed right starters for every operation type, which may be further evidence of individual differences in the lateralization of arithmetic processes. Derived from a combination of a replication, a conceptual replication, and a cross-cultural comparison, this investigation suggests that embodied effects in the published literature are in need of both independent replication as well as investigation of individual differences. This study also further validates the differences between left and right starters, and suggests that more research is needed to understand the influence of embodied cognition on mathematical understanding.

Finger counting is one of the first steps in the development of mature number concepts. With a one-to-one correspondence of fingers to numbers in Western finger counting, fingers hold two numerical meanings: one is based on the number of fingers raised and the second is based on their ordinal position within the habitual finger counting sequence. This study investigated how these two numerical meanings of fingers are intertwined with numerical cognition in adults. Participants received tactile stimulation on their fingertips of one hand and named either the number of fingers stimulated (2, 3, or 4 fingers; Experiment 1) or the number of stimulations on one fingertip (2, 3, or 4 stimulations; Experiment 2). Responses were faster and more accurate when the set of stimulated fingers corresponded to finger counting habits (Experiment 1) and when the number of stimulations matched the ordinal position of the stimulated finger (Experiment 2). These results show that tactile numerosity perception is affected by individual finger counting habits and that those habits give numerical meaning to single fingers.

Background. Embodied finger counting has been shown to have cross-cultural differences in previous studies (Lindemann, Alipour, & Fisher, 2011; Soto & Lalain, 2008). However, their results were contradictory in reference to Western populations with regard to the hand preferred: The first study showed that in Western countries — Europe and the United States — participants preferred to start with the left hand (whereas in the Middle East — Iran — they used the right hand); the second study showed that participants in France preferred the right hand. Objective. Our study aimed to observe these differences in two countries, Spain (Western Europe) and Russia (Eastern Europe part), although taking into account the variety of cultural or ethnic groups who live there. Design. The observational/descriptive study, together with correlational analysis of the finger-counting pattern (from 1 to 10) used by children aged 10 to 12 who had not been taught to use their fingers for counting, considered factors of cultural origin and hand dominance. The possible effects of this action on cognition — in our case, math achievement — were considered also. Results and conclusion. The differences in the frequency of the finger-counting patterns might suggest cultural-individual differences in performance; however, the correlational analysis did not reveal that these differences were statistically significant, either for gender or for mark in math. However, hand dominance was a significant predictor of the preferred hand with which to start counting.

Children typically learn basic numerical and arithmetic principles using finger-based representations. However, whether or not reliance on finger-based representations is beneficial or detrimental is the subject of an ongoing debate between researchers in neurocognition and mathematics education. From the neurocognitive perspective, finger counting provides multisensory input, which conveys both cardinal and ordinal aspects of numbers. Recent data indicate that children with good finger-based numerical representations show better arithmetic skills and that training finger gnosis, or “finger sense,” enhances mathematical skills. Therefore neurocognitive researchers conclude that elaborate finger-based numerical representations are beneficial for later numerical development. However, research in mathematics education recommends fostering mentally based numerical representations so as to induce children to abandon finger counting. More precisely, mathematics education recommends first using finger counting, then concrete structured representations and, finally, mental representations of numbers to perform numerical operations. Taken together, these results reveal an important debate between neurocognitive and mathematics education research concerning the benefits and detriments of finger-based strategies for numerical development. In the present review, the rationale of both lines of evidence will be discussed.

In this study, we show that 6-year-old children with high working memory capacity are more likely to use their fingers in an addition task than children with lower capacity. Moreover and as attested by a strong correlation between finger counting and accuracy in the arithmetic task, finger counting appears to be a very efficient strategy. Therefore, discovering the finger counting strategy seems to require a large amount of working memory resources, which could lack in low-span children. Furthermore, when children with low working memory capacities use their fingers to solve addition problems, they more often use the laborious counting-all strategy than children with higher capacities who use more elaborated procedures such as the Min strategy. Consequently, we suggest that explicit teaching of finger counting during the first years of schooling should be promoted because it could help less gifted children to overcome their difficulties in arithmetic.

Canonical finger postures, as used in counting, activate number knowledge, but the exact mechanism for this priming effect is unclear. Here we dissociated effects of visual versus motor priming of number concepts. In Experiment 1, participants were exposed either to pictures of canonical finger postures (visual priming) or actively produced the same finger postures (motor priming) and then used foot responses to rapidly classify auditory numbers (targets) as smaller or larger than 5. Classification times revealed that manually adopted but not visually perceived postures primed magnitude classifications. Experiment 2 obtained motor priming of number processing through finger postures also with vocal responses. Priming only occurred through canonical and not through non-canonical finger postures. Together, these results provide clear evidence for motor priming of number knowledge. Relative contributions of vision and action for embodied numerical cognition and the importance of canonicity of postures are discussed.

What constitutes effective teaching of arithmetical skills in early school years is still uncertain. Finger use could play a crucial role in this acquisition, but some children do not use them spontaneously and studies would be necessary to know if it is possible to teach them. This research assesses the impact of a teacher-implemented intervention program to teach 5-year- to 6-year-old children to use their fingers in numerical tasks. Participants were 36 kindergarten pupils (16 girls, 20 boys; mean age 5 years, 5 months) from two classrooms. The research compares a program in which motor training and explicit teaching of finger use are promoted to represent numbers and to act on them, with a “business as usual” contrast group. Children were tested before and after the intervention with problem-solving. After the experimental training program, finger counting appears to be a good strategy because its frequency is positively linked to the scores in the problem-solving tasks. We showed a greater improvement in problem-solving following the finger use intervention, compared to the contrast group. Our results support the explicit teaching of finger use to build numerical representation and enhance the calculation skills of kindergarten students (age 5) in French schools.

In this paper, we present neuro-robotics models with a deep artificial neural network capable of generating finger counting positions and number estimation. We first train the model in an unsupervised manner where each layer is treated as a Restricted Boltzmann Machine or an autoencoder. Such a model is further trained in a supervised way. This type of pre-training is tested on our baseline model and two methods of pre-training are compared. The network is extended to produce finger counting positions. The performance in number estimation of such an extended model is evaluated. We test the hypothesis if the subitizing process can be obtained by one single model used also for estimation of higher numerosities. The results confirm the importance of unsupervised training in our enumeration task and show some similarities to human behaviour in the case of subitizing., 8 pages, accepted and presented on a conference. In Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (SSCI)

Representations of the fingers are embodied in our cognition and influence performance in enumeration tasks. Among deaf signers, the fingers also serve as a tool for communication in sign language. Previous studies in normal hearing (NH) participants showed effects of embodiment (i.e., embodied numerosity) on tactile enumeration using the fingers of one hand. In this research, we examined the influence of extensive visuo-manual use on tactile enumeration among the deaf. We carried out four enumeration task experiments, using 1-5 stimuli, on a profoundly deaf group (n = 16) and a matching NH group (n = 15): (a) tactile enumeration using one hand, (b) tactile enumeration using two hands, (c) visual enumeration of finger signs, and (d) visual enumeration of dots. In the tactile tasks, we found salient embodied effects in the deaf group compared to the NH group. In the visual enumeration of finger signs task, we controlled the meanings of the stimuli presentation type (e.g., finger-counting habit, fingerspelled letters, both or neither). Interestingly, when comparing fingerspelled letters to neutrals (i.e., not letters or numerical finger-counting signs), an inhibition pattern was observed among the deaf. The findings uncover the influence of rich visuo-manual experiences and language on embodied representations. In addition, we propose that these influences can partially account for the lag in mathematical competencies in the deaf compared to NH peers. Lastly, we further discuss how our findings support a contemporary model for mental numerical representations and finger-counting habits.

There is a well-documented association between fingers and numbers, which was claimed to stem from the use of finger-based strategies for counting and calculating during childhood. Recently, it has been argued that this may lead to a concomitant activation of finger-based alongside other numerical representations when encountering single-digit numbers. Indeed, the occurrence of such a co-activation is supported by observed influences of finger counting habits on different numerical tasks, including single-digit arithmetic problem solving. In this study, we pursued the question whether the influence of finger-based representations on arithmetic generalizes to multi-digit arithmetic by investigating the association between the recognition of canonical and non-canonical finger patterns and multi-digit arithmetic in adults. Results indicated that canonical finger-based numerical representations were significantly associated with addition performance only, whereas non-canonical finger-based representations were associated significantly with all four arithmetic operations. We argue that, because non-canonical patterns do not benefit from the iconicity of canonical patterns, their magnitude may need to be constructed through magnitude manipulation which may in turn increase associations with mental arithmetic. In sum, our findings provide converging evidence for a functional association between finger-based representations and arithmetic performance.

Dyscalculia affects comprehension of numerical mathematical problems, working with numbers and arithmetics. We describe our work on a training system for an exercise that trains connections between verbal and numerical representations of numbers and finger counting. Fingers support embodied cognition and constitute a natural numerical representation. We describe the design rationale and iterative development process, and first evaluation results for our system that enables children to train without guidance and feedback by a trainer.

Computing is one of the oldest achievements of human civilization. From ancient finger counting and not counting to ancient Chinese calculation and abacus calculation, to modern western Nepal domino calculation and Pascal calculator, to modern computer calculation, the infinite development and tremendous role of calculating methods and calculating tools, computing innovation occupies a very important position in human history. We are now in the “cloud computing” era, where users use the “cloud” to store and calculate. “Cloud” includes hundreds of thousands or even millions of computers one by one.

The diversion of a driver&rsquo, s attention from driving can be catastrophic. Given that conventional button- and touch-based interfaces may distract the driver, developing novel distraction-free interfaces for the various devices present in cars has becomes necessary. Hand gesture recognition may provide an alternative interface inside cars. Given that cars are the targeted application area, we determined the optimal location for the radar sensor, so that the signal reflected from the driver&rsquo, s hand during gesturing is unaffected by interference from the motion of the driver&rsquo, s body or other motions within the car. We implemented a Convolutional Neural Network-based technique to recognize the finger-counting-based hand gestures using an Impulse Radio (IR) radar sensor. The accuracy of the proposed method was sufficiently high for real-world applications.

Aim of this study was to investigate the association between finger and number representation in a task in which students had to perform arithmetic calculations and decide whether the provided solution was correct or incorrect, while a pair of task-irrelevant hands gesturally expressed the same or a different number. In particular we aimed at investigating whether irrelevant finger-counting might interfere with arithmetic computing, thus showing the existence of a strict neural association between the two processes. 20 volunteers took part to the investigation and EEG/ERPs were recorded from 128 scalp sites. P300 amplitude was greater to correct than incorrect solutions. Accuracy was higher when there was no conflict between the two sets of information A numerical error-related negativity (nERN) was elicited by incorrect solutions, and also by correct solutions when the finger-counting was incongruent. Source analysis applied to the incongruent minus congruent difference showed that when finger-counting was incorrect nERN mostly derived from medial and superior prefrontal cortex activity (supporting action monitoring and suppression). Conversely, when finger-counting indicated the correct solution brain activation included occipital areas, somatosensory regions and visuomotor mirror areas, inferior and superior temporal cortex, reflecting attentional orienting toward the hands. In both cases, the left angular gyrus (BA39) was found active during conjoined digit/number processing, suggesting a strict neural association between finger and digit processing. The present findings help explaining why a lesion in the left parietal cortex may simultaneously lead to finger apraxia and acalculia (Gertsmann syndrome).

The Attentional-SNARC effect (Att-SNARC) originally described by Fischer et al. (Nat Neurosci 6(6):555, 2003), consists of faster RTs to visual targets in the left side of space when these are preceded by small-magnitude Arabic cues at central fixation and by faster RTs to targets in the right side of space when these are preceded by large-magnitude cues. Verifying the consistency and reliability of this effect is important, because the effect would suggest an inherent association between the representation of space and that of number magnitude, while a number of recent studies provided no positive evidence in favour of the Att-SNARC and the inherency of this association (van Dijck et al. in Q J Exp Psychol 67(8):1500-1513, 2014; Zanolie and Pecher in Front Psychol 5:987, 2014; Fattorini et al. in Cortex 73:298-316, 2015; Pinto et al. in Cortex, DOI:10.1016/j.cortex.2017.12.015, 2018). Here, we re-analysed Att-SNARC data that we have collected in 174 participants over different studies run in our laboratory. Most important, in a subsample of 79 participants, we also verified whether the strength and reliability of the Att-SNARC is eventually linked inter-individual variations in finger counting style, imagery vividness, and verbal/visual learning style. We found no evidence for the Att-SNARC effect or for the influence of finger counting style, imagery vividness, and learning style on its direction or consistency. These results confirm no inherent link between orienting of spatial attention and representation of number magnitudes. We propose that this link is rather determined by the joint use of spatial and number magnitude or parity codes in the performance of the numerical task at hand.

This short paper describes an approach for collecting a dataset of hand’s pictures and training a Deep Learning network that could enable the iCub robot to count on its fingers using solely its own cameras. Such a skill, mimicking children’s habits, can support arithmetic learning in a baby robot, an important step in creating artificial intelligence for robots that could learn like children in the context of cognitive developmental robotics. Preliminary results show the approach is promising in terms of accuracy.

The main goal of the present study was to explore strategy selection in high mathematical anxiety (MA) individuals, and to test the role of development in the selection of strategy. We tested 2nd, 3rd and 5th graders with high or low MA in simple and complex addition problems. Participants first solved the problems and were then asked to report the strategy that they used. During elementary school, typically developing children change strategy use. In the first years backup strategies of counting are very frequent, but with maturation and schooling, they can shift to memory- based strategies. Hence, we tested finger counting and advanced memory based strategies in high MA children. In finger counting, high MA children showed developmental delay. For example, in the third grade, low MA children stopped using finger counting, while high MA participants continued to use it. However, in the case of advanced strategy use, we found a different pattern: regardless of age, high MA children used less advanced strategies than low MA participants. Moreover, usage of advanced memory based strategies was modulated by visuospatial working memory abilities in the two groups. The present results suggest that the MA participant has atypical developmental trajectories in strategy use.

A 24-year-old man presented with sudden-onset bilateral loss of vision with persistent headaches for 3 days. His visual acuity (VA) in the right eye was 20/1200 and in the left eye was finger counting close to face. Both pupils were equally reactive and anterior segment examination was normal

Subitizing is a fast and accurate process of enumerating small quantities. Whether subitizing carried out in the tactile modality is under debate. We previously found a moderately increasing RT slope from one to four stimuli and a large decrease in RT for five stimuli when using one hand. Yet, a high error rate was observed, making it difficult to determine if the RT pattern found was indeed subitizing. To increase accuracy, we carried out training of the tactile enumeration task using one hand for 6 days. We compared performance in the trained and additional non-trained tasks between two groups-the 6-day training group (6DT) and the non-trained controls (C)-after three periods (1 week, 1 and 6 months after the training of the 6DT group ended). Results showed an increase in accuracy rates for both groups but a decrease in RT for the 6DT group only for the trained task. This RT improvement was present even after 6 months. Importantly, the RT slope of one-hand enumeration did not change after training, showing a moderately increased slope up to four stimuli and a decrease for five stimuli. Our study shows the training long-term effect on tactile enumeration and emphasizes the embodiment of finger counting on enumeration. Two possible enumeration processes are discussed-accelerated counting and subitizing-both based on spatial cues and pattern recognition of familiarized finger-counting patterns.

The virtual Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak device (VEAST) is a very complicated 3D model, to interact with which, the traditional interaction devices are limited and inefficient. However, with the development of human-computer interaction (HCI), the hand gesture interaction has become a much popular choice in recent years. In this paper, we propose a real-time vision-based hand gesture interaction system for VEAST. By using one web camera, we can use our bare hand to interact with VEAST at a certain distance, which proves to be more efficient and direct than mouse. The system is composed of four modules: initialization, hand gesture recognition, interaction control and system settings. The hand gesture recognition method is based on codebook (CB) background modeling and open finger counting. Firstly, we build a background model with CB algorithm. Then, we segment the hand region by detecting skin color regions with “elliptical boundary model” in CbCr flat of YCbCr color space. Open finger which is used as a key feature of gesture can be tracked by an improved curvature-based method. Based on the method, we define nine gestures for interaction control of VEAST. Finally, we design a test to demonstrate effectiveness of our system.

Objective The aim of the present study was to evaluate the finger counting method and compare its performance with four commonly used age-based weight estimation formulae in children aged 1–9 years presenting to the ED in Hong Kong. Methods A cross-sectional, observational study of children aged 1–9 years who presented to the ED of a tertiary referral hospital in Hong Kong over a 6 month period was conducted. Actual weight was compared with estimated weight using the finger counting method and four commonly used age-based weight estimation formulae. Bland–Altman analysis was performed to evaluate the degree of agreement in which the mean percentage difference (MPD) and 95% limits of agreement (LOA) were calculated. Root mean squared error (RMSE) and proportions of weight estimates within 10%, 15% and 20% of actual weight were determined. Results A total of 4178 children were included. The finger counting method was the most accurate method (MPD 0.1%; 95% LOA −34.0% to 34.2%). The original Advanced Paediatric Life Support (APLS) formula (MPD −7.0%; 95% LOA −38.4% to 24.3%) and the updated APLS formula (MPD −0.4%; 95% LOA −38.5% to 37.8%) underestimated weight whereas the Luscombe formula (MPD 7.2%; 95% LOA −31.8% to 46.2%) and the Best Guess formula (MPD 10.6%; 95% LOA −27.3% to 48.4%) overestimated weight. The finger counting method had smallest RMSE of 4.06 kg and estimated the largest proportion of children within 10%, 15% and 20% of actual weight. Conclusion The finger counting method outperforms the commonly used age-based weight estimation formulae in children aged 1–9 years presenting to the ED in Hong Kong.

In recent years, Sign language is an important research problem for communicating with hearing impaired people without the help of interpreter. Hand gesture is one of the methods used in sign language which is most commonly used by deaf and dumb people to communicate with each other or with normal people. The proposed algorithm aims at developing real time image processing based system for hand gesture recognition on personal computer with an USB web cam. This paper proposes a method to detect and recognize the static image of Indian Sign Language numbering system from zero to nine. The method is based on counting the open fingers in the static images. The proposed algorithm for gesture recognition is based on boundary tracing and finger tip detection and also deals with images of bare hands, which allows the signer to interact with the system in a natural way. The proposed algorithm is first detect and segments the hand region from the real time captured images. Then using the proposed methodology, it locate the fingers and classifies the gesture. Further the system convert Indian signs into text and then speech using an audio file stored on PC. The algorithm is size invariant but it is orientation dependent. The proposed system is implemented using OpenCV. General Terms Gesture Recognition, Active finger counting.

We present a method of recognizing hand gestures using RGB values, depth value, hand center coordinates, and finger counting data from Microsoft’s Kinect for implementing the immersive hand interface to overcome inconvenience using HMD. First, we set the RGB values and depth range to detect the hand. This processing can improve recognition rate. Then, through double labeling, outside labeling, and inside labeling, we detect the hand without noise. Then, we use the distance vector to obtain the hand center. It also removes everything except the hand area, including removal of the wrist. After detection of the hand, we use HNMA (Multi Information-Hippocampus Neuron Modeling Algorithm) to recognize the hand gesture. This algorithm helps to improve the recognize rate. It is difficult to use the interface when using an HMD (Head Mount Display) display machine. This algorithm can make an immersive environment.

Recent work in numerical cognition has shown-that number magnitude is not entirely abstract, and at least partly rooted in embodied and situated experiences, including finger-counting. The current study extends previous cross-cultural research to address within-culture individual differences in finger counting habits. Results indicated that Canadian participants demonstrated an additional cognitive load when comparing numbers that require more than one hand to represent, and this pattern of performance is further modulated by whether they typically start counting on their left hand or their right hand. Chinese students typically count on only one hand and so show no such effect, except for an increase in errors, similar to that seen in Canadians, for those whom self-identify as predominantly two-hand counters. Results suggest that the impact of finger counting habits extend beyond cultural experience and concord in predictable ways with differences in number magnitude processing for specific number-digits. We conclude that symbolic number magnitude processing is partially rooted in learned finger-counting habits, consistent with a motor simulation account of embodied numeracy and that argument is supported by both cross-cultural and within-culture differences in finger-counting habits.

Sensory-motor experiences are known to build up concrete and abstract concepts during the lifespan. The present study aimed to test how finger counting habits (right-hand vs. left-hand starters) could influence the spatial-numerical representation in number-to-position (explicit) and digit-string bisection (implicit) tasks. The subjects were Italian primary school children (N= 184, from the first to the fifth year) and adults (N= 42). No general preference for right- or left-starting in the finger counting was found. In the explicit task, right- or left-starting did not affect performance. In the implicit task, the right-hand starters shifted from the left to the right space when bisecting small and large numbers respectively, while the left-hand starters shifted from the right to the left space with higher leftward bias for large numbers. The finger configuration in Italian children and adults influences the spatial-numerical representation, but only when implicit number processing is required by the task.