The third issue is the question whether fractions can
mentally be represented as integrated wholes rather than componentially
as two natural numbers. This issue is related to the
natural number bias, because it is possible that the bias occurs
only when people use componential representations of fractions
but not when they use holistic representations. Previous studies
have revealed that holistic representations are possible for certain
fractions that people are presumably very familiar with (such as
1/2), but there is very limited evidence that this is also possible
for less well-known fractions. In the following, we elaborate on
the rationales and the available evidence for the three issues
raised here.