Abstract
In regards to numerical cognition and working memory, it is an open question as to whether numbers are stored into and retrieved from a central abstract representation or from separate notation-specific representations. This study seeks to help answer this by utilizing the numeral modality effect (NME) in three experiments to explore how numbers are processed by the human brain. The participants were presented with numbers (1–9) as either Arabic digits or written number words (Arabic digits and dot matrices in Experiment 2) at the first (S1) and second (S2) stimuli. The participant’s task was to add the first two stimuli together and verify whether the answer (S3), presented simultaneously with S2, was correct. We hypothesized that if reaction time (RT) at S2/S3 depends on the modality of S1 then numbers are retrieved from modality specific memory stores. Indeed, RT depended on the modality of S1 whenever S2 was an Arabic digit which argues against the concept of numbers being stored and retrieved from a central, abstract representation.
Highlights
There was an S1 modality x S2 modality interaction (AA = 992 ms, WA = 1085 ms, WW = 1134 ms, AW = 1159 ms; S1 Modality x S2 Modality: F(1,19) = 34.067, p
The interaction resulted in shorter solution times when S2 was presented as an Arabic digit
This effect was modulated by S1 modality: reaction time (RT) were the fastest when S1 was an Arabic digit (AA = 928 ms, WW = 1002 ms, WA = 1005 ms, AW = 1005 ms)
Summary
Twelve of which were female, participated in this study. They were between the ages of 18 and 35 (median age: 23) and were from the Cambridge, UK area. Seventeen of the participants were students or former students from the University of Cambridge with the others being residents from the Cambridge area. Seventeen subjects from experiment 2 participated in this experiment, ten of which were female. Fourteen of the participants were students or former students from the University of Cambridge with the others being residents from the Cambridge area. All reported themselves as being unimpaired in regards to math ability
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