Non-numeric stimulus features frequently influence observers' number judgments: when judging the number of items in a display, we will often (mis)perceive the set with a larger cumulative surface area as more numerous. These “congruency effects” are often used as evidence for how vision extracts numeric information and have been invoked in arguments surrounding whether non-numeric cues (e.g., cumulative area, density, etc.) are combined for number perception. We test whether congruency effects for one such cue – cumulative area – provide evidence that it is necessarily used and integrated in number perception, or if its influence on number is malleable. In Experiment 1, we replicate and extend prior work showing that the presence of feedback eliminates congruency effects between number and cumulative area, suggesting that the role of cumulative area in number perception is malleable rather than obligatory. In Experiment 2, we test whether this malleable influence is because of use of prior experiences about how number naturalistically correlates with cumulative area, or the result of response competition, with number and cumulative area actively competing for the same behavioral decision. We preserve cumulative area as a visual cue but eliminate response competition with number by replacing one side of the dot array with its corresponding Hindu-Arabic numeral. Independent of the presence or absence of feedback, we do not observe congruency effects in Experiment 2. These experiments suggest that cumulative area is not necessarily integrated in number perception nor a reflection of a rational use of naturalistic correlations, but rather congruency effects between cumulative area and number emerge as a consequence of response competition. Our findings help to elucidate the mechanism through which non-numeric cues and number interact, and provide an explanation for why congruency effects are only sometimes observed across studies.

非数字刺激特征经常影响观察者的数量判断：在判断展示中的项目数量时，我们通常会（错误地）认为累积表面积越大的集合越多。这些“一致性效应”通常被用作视觉如何提取数字信息的证据，并且在围绕是否将非数字线索（例如，累积面积、密度等）结合起来以进行数字感知的争论中被调用。我们测试了一个这样的线索——累积面积——的一致性效应是否提供了证据证明它必须在数字感知中使用和整合，或者它对数字的影响是否具有延展性. 在实验 1 中，我们复制并扩展了先前的工作，表明反馈的存在消除了数字和累积面积之间的一致性效应，这表明累积面积在数字感知中的作用是可塑的，而不是强制性的。在实验 2 中，我们测试了这种可塑性影响是否是由于使用了先前的经验，即数量与累积面积的自然相关性，还是响应竞争的结果，与数量和累积面积积极竞争相同的行为决策。我们保留累积区域作为视觉提示，但通过将点阵列的一侧替换为其相应的印度教-阿拉伯数字来消除与数字的响应竞争。独立于反馈的存在与否，我们在实验 2 中没有观察到一致性效应。这些实验表明，累积面积不一定与数字感知相结合，也不一定反映了合理使用自然相关性，但累积面积和数量之间的一致性效应是响应竞争的结果。我们的研究结果有助于阐明非数字线索和数字相互作用的机制，并解释为什么有时在研究中观察到一致性效应。