Abstract
Numbers are mapped onto space from birth on, as evidenced by a variety of interactions between the processing of numerical and spatial information. In particular, larger numbers are associated to larger spatial extents (number/spatial extent mapping) and to rightward spatial locations (number/location mapping), and smaller numbers are associated to smaller spatial extents and leftward spatial locations. These two main types of number/space mappings (number/spatial extent and number/location mappings) are usually assumed to reflect the fact that numbers are represented on an internal continuum: the mental number line. However, to date there is very little evidence that these two mappings actually reflect a single representational object. Across two experiments in adults, we investigated the interaction between number/location and number/spatial extent congruency effects, both when numbers were presented in a non-symbolic and in a symbolic format. We observed a significant interaction between the two mappings, but only in the context of an implicit numerical task. The results were unaffected by the format of presentation of numbers. We conclude that the number/location and the number/spatial extent mappings can stem from the activation of a single representational object, but only in specific experimental contexts.
Highlights
Humans possess an inborn ability to represent, discriminate, and manipulate numerical quantities, an ability that is shared with many other species (Cantlon, 2018)
We found an effect of congruency between the numerical magnitude and the physical magnitude, for both symbolic and non-symbolic stimuli, so that congruent trials had a higher performance than incongruent ones
The overall lower performance with digits than with non-symbolic numbers could be due to the ratio differences, which were more pronounced for non-symbolic stimuli, and comparison was easier and faster for this numerical format
Summary
Humans possess an inborn ability to represent, discriminate, and manipulate numerical quantities, an ability that is shared with many other species (Cantlon, 2018). The main signature of this cognitive system is that the variable determining a successful discrimination is the ratio between the two numerosities to compare, so that the larger the ratio between them the better the discrimination, a signature that governs discrimination for other continuous, perceptual dimensions (Feigenson et al, 2004) This core, numerical cognitive system is thought to show continuity in development, and to support the acquisition of formal math and symbolic numerical representations, with individual differences in numerical acuity predicting, and correlating with, math scores later on in life (Halberda et al, 2008; Starr et al, 2013). A widely accepted view on numerical cognition considers numbers as distributions of activation along a spatially oriented mental number line (Restle, 1970; Dehaene, 1992)
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