numeron

From numero- +‎ -on (“forming names of things considered as basic or fundamental units”). Coined in 1986 by Rochel Gelman and C. R. Gallistel.

numeron (plural numerons)

1. A hypothetical nonverbal cognitive representation of a numeric amount.
   • 2001, Joao Branquinho, The Foundations of Cognitive Science, page 45:

     Of course, it is also possible that Sheba's mental representations of 1, 2, 3, and 4 may have been symbolic, accumulator representations or numeron representations.

   • 2008, Gregory R. Bock, Gail Cardew, Characterizing Human Psychological Adaptations, page 99:

     Specifically, and in direct contrast to the numeron model, the idea of an accumulator is that the brain converts numerical events into an analogue representation.

   • 2013, William Kessen, Andrew Ortony, Fergus Craik, Memories, Thoughts, and Emotions, page 76:

     We suggest that for small numerosities, the preverbal counter can run much faster than the verbal counting routine, so that the magnitude (the preverbal numeron) that represents the numerosity of an array is specified long before the verbal counting process has arrived at the correct numerlog. It is specified so much sooner that one can get the correct numerlog more quickly by using the preverbal counting mechanism (subitizing) to get the preverbal numeron and use the preverbal numeron to retrieve the numerlog.

   • 2013, John M. Pearce, Animal Learning and Cognition: An Introduction, page 252:

     The one–one principle: Each item in the set is assigned one and only one numeron.

• numerlog

numeron

1. accusative singular of numero

numeron

1. genitive singular of numero