Fig 3. Complexity predicts error rates.

For each sequence, the y axis represents the mean error rate, and the x axis the sequence complexity, as measured by minimal description length. Panels show data from French adults (top, experiment 1), preschool children (middle, pooling over experiments 2 and 3), and Munduruku teenagers and adults (bottom, experiment 4). For each group, a regression line is also plotted and the Spearman’s correlation coefficient is displayed. In French children and Munduruku adults, the “4diagonals” and “2crosses” are clear outliers—as explained in the main text, the regression can be improved by assuming that their “language of thought” does not include rotational symmetry P.