When Time and Numerosity Interfere: The Longer the More, and the More the Longer

Amir Homayoun Javadi,Clarisse Aichelburg,Trevor Bruce Penney

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0041496

Amir Homayoun Javadi, Clarisse Aichelburg + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041496

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Jul 20, 2012
Citations: 65	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: TU Dresden, University College London

Abstract

There is strong evidence that magnitudes in different dimensions can interfere. A majority of previous studies on the interaction of temporal magnitudes on numerosity showed no interfering effect, while many studies have reported the interference of numerosity on judgement of temporal magnitudes. We speculated that this one-way interference is confounded by the magnitudes used in the studies. We used a methodology that allowed us to study this interaction reciprocally. Moreover, we selected magnitudes for two dimensions that enabled us to detect their interfering effects. Participants had to either judge which of two successive sets of items was more numerous (numerosity judgement task), or which set of items was presented longer (duration judgement task). We hypothesised that a longer presentation of a set will be judged as being more numerous, and vice versa, a more numerous set will be judged as being presented longer. Results confirmed our hypothesis. A positive correlation between duration of presentation and judged numerosity as well as a positive correlation between the number of items and judged duration of presentation was found. This observation supports the idea that duration and numerosity judgements are not completely independent and implies the existence of (partly) generalised and abstract components in the magnitude representations.

Highlights

A magnitude is the size or extent of something, such as quantity, length, duration, speed, brightness, weight and position
In a more comprehensive way, Walsh [5,6] proposed a theory of magnitude (ATOM), by which he suggested that commonalities between different dimensions such as time, space, number, size and other magnitudes are found in a common brain area
All the participants were healthy with no history of neurological or psychiatric disorder, had normal or corrected-tonormal vision and remained naive to the purpose of the study. They were right-handed yielding a laterality quotient of at least +50 on the Edinburgh Handedness Inventor [20]. All participants gave their written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the guidelines approved by the ethical committee of University College London (UCL)

Summary

Introduction

A magnitude is the size or extent of something, such as quantity, length, duration, speed, brightness, weight and position. Magnitudes in different dimensions, such as time or space, are an integral part of our existence. In some circumstances, these interconnections interfere and can lead to a misperception of one dimension or another (see below). The majority of the developmental research [1,2,3,4], as well as research on adults (see below), have confirmed the existence of such an interaction showing that magnitude judgements in different dimensions are sometimes affected by other dimensions. In a more comprehensive way, Walsh [5,6] proposed a theory of magnitude (ATOM), by which he suggested that commonalities between different dimensions such as time, space, number, size and other magnitudes are found in a common brain area (parietal cortex ) (for a revision see [7])

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