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At the roots of Plant Awareness Disparity (PAD): Semantic processing and numerosity perception
Silvia Guerra1, Marco Roccato1, Carolina Maria Oletto1
1Department of General Psychology (DPG), University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Plos One
|May 15, 2026
Summary
Plant Awareness Disparity (PAD) causes people to underestimate plant numbers. This cognitive bias affects basic perception, potentially due to how we process plant recognition.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Plant Sciences
- Human Perception
Background:
- Plant Awareness Disparity (PAD) describes a human tendency to overlook plants and their significance.
- Visual factors, such as plants' less striking colors, may contribute to PAD.
- Basic numerosity perception is crucial for interacting with the environment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if PAD influences fundamental numerosity perception.
- To compare how humans perceive the quantity of plants versus animals and minerals.
- To explore the role of visual cues and semantic recognition in PAD.
Main Methods:
- Three experiments were conducted comparing numerosity perception of plants, animals, and minerals.
- Participants performed estimation and comparison tasks using colored and black/white images.
- Stimuli were manipulated (rotation) to assess the impact of semantic recognition.
Main Results:
- Consistent underestimation of plant quantities was observed in initial experiments.
- Removing color (Experiment 2) did not significantly alter this underestimation.
- Rotating images to disrupt recognition (Experiment 3) reduced the underestimation effect.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive biases related to PAD can impact basic numerical judgments.
- Semantic recognition processes appear to play a role in the underestimation of plants.
- Understanding PAD is vital for recognizing how cognitive biases affect essential perceptual abilities.
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