The Correlation of Counting Speed with Visual Search and Visuomotor Organization: A Conjugate Study on Borderline and Normal People

Introduction: Counting is of the most basic mathematical abilities. Many researches have demonstrated that different perceptual abilities can affect counting skills. We investigated the impact of visual search (VS) and visuoumotor organization (VMO) on counting speed. Material and Methods: A total of 40 people in two groups of borderline and normal intellectual ability (20 subjects in each group) participated in the study. Three areas were evaluated: (1) VS, (2) VMO, and (3) counting speed. We used three self-designed evaluation softwares to examine VS and counting speed. VMO was assessed by Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment. Results: We calculated the Pearson rank correlation in both groups, to investigate the relation between counting speed and two other variables. According to the results, the speed of counting was related to VMO (P 0.050). However, VS was correlated to counting speed just in normal people (P 0.050). In contrast, the effect of VMO on counting speed was influenced by the spatial distribution of the objects in each set. Conclusion: Counting in different sets of objects is influenced by VMO and VS depending on their characteristics such as spatial distribution and the number of contents.