Abstract
This study explored event-related potential (ERP) correlates of common fractions (1/5) and decimal fractions (0.2). Thirteen subjects performed a numerical magnitude matching task under two conditions. In the common fraction condition, a nonsymbolic fraction was asked to be judged whether its magnitude matched the magnitude of a common fraction; in the decimal fraction condition, a nonsymbolic fraction was asked to be matched with a decimal fraction. Behavioral results showed significant main effects of condition and numerical distance, but no significant interaction of condition and numerical distance. Electrophysiological data showed that when nonsymbolic fractions were compared to common fractions, they displayed larger N1 and P3 amplitudes than when they were compared to decimal fractions. This finding suggested that the visual identification for nonsymbolic fractions was different under the two conditions, which was not due to perceptual differences but to task demands. For symbolic fractions, the condition effect was observed in the N1 and P3 components, revealing stimulus-specific visual identification processing. The effect of numerical distance as an index of numerical magnitude representation was observed in the P2, N3 and P3 components under the two conditions. However, the topography of the distance effect was different under the two conditions, suggesting stimulus specific semantic processing of common fractions and decimal fractions.
Highlights
Fractions, the experiential basis for rational numbers, refer to the part-whole concept [1,2]
There was a main effect of numerical distance, F(1, 12) = 21.68, p = 0.001, with the mean reaction times (RTs) of the close distance being 34 ms slower than that of the far distance
Repeated measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) with condition and hemisphere as two withinsubject variables were conducted on the amplitudes and latencies of N1, P2 and P3 in each region using Greenhouse-Geisser corrected degrees of freedom for the F-ratio
Summary
The experiential basis for rational numbers, refer to the part-whole concept [1,2]. They can be expressed in a nonsymbolic format and a symbolic format. The non-symbolic fraction can be termed proportion. Can be represented in two forms: common fractions and decimal fractions. The term ‘‘common fractions’’ is denoted by the symbolic form a/b with the denominator and numerator as integers (e.g. 1/2); the term ‘‘decimal fractions’’, utilizing a decimal point and decimal components, is a base-ten expression of common fractions without the denominator (e.g., 0.5). We aimed to explore whether there was similar numerical representation of common and decimal fractions
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