Abstract
The processing of time and numbers has been fundamental to human cognition. One of the prominent theories of magnitude processing, a theory of magnitude (ATOM), suggests that a generalized magnitude system processes space, time, and numbers; thereby, the magnitude dimensions could potentially interact with one another. However, more recent studies have found support for domain-specific magnitude processing and argued that the magnitudes related to time and number are processed through distinct mechanisms. Such mixed findings have raised questions about whether these magnitudes are processed independently or share a common processing mechanism. In the present study, we examine the influence of numerical magnitude on temporal processing. To investigate, we conducted two experiments using a temporal comparison task, wherein we presented positive and negative numerical magnitudes (large and small) in a blocked (Experiment-1) and intermixed manner (Experiment-2). Results from experiment-1 suggest that numerical magnitude affects temporal processing only in positive numbers but not for negative numbers. Further, results from experiment-2 indicate that the polarity (positive and negative) of the numbers influences temporal processing instead of the numerical magnitude itself. Overall, the current study seems to suggest that cross-domain interaction of magnitudes arises from attentional mechanisms and may not need to posit a common magnitude processing system.
Highlights
Such cross-domain monotonic mapping has been reported across different contexts[28] and timescales[29,30,31]
We have recently shown that numerical magnitude selectively affects the accuracy but not the precision of temporal judgments and argued that such selective bias might result from visuospatial a ttention[40]
We proposed that larger numerical magnitude would be perceived to last longer in time than smaller numerical magnitude irrespective of the number format in line with a theory of magnitude (ATOM) and previous studies
Summary
Experiment‐1: positive and negative number magnitudes (block design). All the subjects performed a Positive and Negative number block. The PSE was estimated using Psignifit[4] (a MATLABbased toolbox) by fitting a Logistic Function to each numerical magnitude (small, large) data across positive and negative blocks (see Fig. 1). Like in experiment-1, PSE was estimated using Psignifit[4] (MATLAB-based toolbox) by fitting a Logistic Function to each numerical magnitude (small, large) data for both positive and negative numbers (see Fig. 3). A one-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare whether the temporal processing for the numerical magnitude (small and large) differs across positive and negative numbers. Like in experiment-1, participants’ knowledge about the magnitude (large and small) was tested by presenting the two numbers side by side and asking them to indicate which number was larger in terms of magnitude. This suggests that the participants were aware of large and small numerical magnitudes in positive and negative number cases
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