shorthanded vs full ring

[stoxtrader]

lots of authors have written about opening standards shorthanded, and whether it is correct to play assuming that you are at a full table with all folds to you. In other words if you are playing 5 handed, just assume that you are at a 10 handed table and there have been 5 folds.

Gary carson says this is a good start, but if I remember correctly, he goes on to say that you then should loosen up a bit because you pay the blinds more often. This I disagree with but wanted to see what others thought. I also question my thoguhts on this because it is my experience that higher limit players DO loosen up 4 handed vs 10 handed and folded to them in the cutoff. This is simply what it feels like to me, that they loosen up 4 handed in the CO vs 10 handed in the CO with everyone folding to you, but I do not have data to back it up, or rather I have the data but have not systematically analyzed it.

bunching effect is possibly applicable here, but to what extent?

So how many of you have a set opening range from each position in relation to the button and does that range change based on the number of people at the table?