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Cao B, Zeng X, Zhang J, Wang X, Li F. Stronger spatial bias induced more by numbers in mind than numbers in eye: Evidence from event-related potentials. Biol Psychol 2023; 179:108565. [PMID: 37062354 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Revised: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 04/18/2023]
Abstract
The relationship between number and space is an important issue in numerical cognition. The spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect is a classic example of the association between numbers and spaces. It refers to the phenomenon whereby left-handed responses occur faster to small number and right-handed responses occur faster to large number. The current study explored the shared and distinct neural correlates of the SNARC effect considering numbers in eye and numbers in mind, by using event-related potentials (ERPs) technology. In each trial of the task, participants were asked to press freely one of two keys as a response to a number presented visually (numbers in eye) or via imagination (numbers in mind). The behavioral results indicated that the free-choice key presses were affected by the magnitudes of the numbers either in eye or in mind. Electrophysiological results observed that the SNARC effect appeared only in the 110 - 140 ms time window for numbers in eye. In contrast, for numbers in mind, the SNARC effect appeared during a longer time window (110 - 330 ms). These results suggest that both, numbers in eye and numbers in mind, can induce spatial bias at the early stimulus-representation stage, but the time duration of the spatial bias is longer for numbers in mind than numbers in eye. This may reflect a closer connection between numbers in mind and mental number line.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bihua Cao
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, China.
| | - Xiaodong Zeng
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, China
| | - Jing Zhang
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, China
| | - Xiaotao Wang
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, China
| | - Fuhong Li
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, China.
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2
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Masson N, Pesenti M. A functional role for oculomotor preparation in mental arithmetic evidenced by the abducted eye paradigm. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2023; 87:919-928. [PMID: 35758995 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01696-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Solving subtraction and addition problems is accompanied by spontaneous leftward and rightward gaze shifts, respectively. These shifts have been related to attentional processes involved in mental arithmetic, but whether these processes induce overt attentional shifts mediated by the activation of the motor programs underlying lateral eye movements or covert shifts only is still unknown. Here, we used the abducted eye paradigm to selectively disrupt activation of the oculomotor system and prevent oculomotor preparation, which affects overt but not covert attentional shifts. Participants had to mentally solve addition and subtraction problems while fixating a screen positioned either in front of them or laterally to their left or right such that they were physically unable to programme and execute saccades further into their temporal field while they still could do so in their nasal field. In comparison to the frontal condition, rightward eye abduction impaired additions (with carrying), and leftward eye abduction impaired subtractions (with borrowing) showing that at least some arithmetic problems rely on processes dedicated to overt attentional shifts. We propose that when solving arithmetic problems requires procedures such as carrying and borrowing, oculomotor mechanisms operating on a mental space transiently built in working memory are recruited to represent one numerical magnitude in relation to another (e.g. the first operand and the result).
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Masson
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, place Mercier 10, B-1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
- Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (DBCS), Institute of Cognitive Science and Assessment (COSA), Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE), University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
| | - Mauro Pesenti
- Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, place Mercier 10, B-1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, Bruxelles, Belgium.
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3
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Xiang X, Yan L, Fu S, Nan W. Processing stage flexibility of the SNARC effect: Task relevance or magnitude relevance? Front Psychol 2022; 13:1022999. [DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1022999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that the processing stage of the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect is flexible. Two recent studies used the same experimental paradigm to check whether the SNARC effect occurred in the semantic-representation stage but reached contradictory conclusions, showing that the SNARC effect was influenced by a magnitude Stroop effect in a magnitude comparison task but not by a parity Stroop effect in a parity judgment task. Those two studies had two distinct operational factors: the task type (magnitude comparison task or parity judgment task, with the numerical magnitude information task-relevant or task-irrelevant) and the semantic representation stage-related interference information (magnitude or parity Stroop effect, with the interference information magnitude-relevant or magnitude-irrelevant). To determine which factor influenced the SNARC effect, in the present study, the Stroop effect was switched in the two tasks based on the previous studies. The findings of four experiments consistently showed that the SNARC effect was not influenced by the parity Stroop effect in the magnitude comparison task but was influenced by the magnitude Stroop effect in the parity judgment task. Combined with the results of those two contradictory studies, the findings indicated that regardless of the task type or the task relevance of numerical magnitude information, magnitude-relevant interference information was the primary factor to affect the SNARC effect. Furthermore, a two-stage processing model that explained the observed flexibility of the SNARC effect was proposed and discussed.
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Pupil size variations reveal covert shifts of attention induced by numbers. Psychon Bull Rev 2022; 29:1844-1853. [PMID: 35384595 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02094-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The pupil light response is more than a pure reflexive mechanism that reacts to the amount of light entering the eye. The pupil size may also react to the luminance of objects lying in the visual periphery, revealing the locus of covert attention. In the present study, we took advantage of this response to study the spatial coding of abstract concepts with no physical counterpart: numbers. The participants' gaze was maintained fixed in the middle of a screen whose left and right parts were dark or bright, and variations in pupil size were recorded during an auditory number comparison task. The results showed that small numbers accentuated pupil dilation when the darker part of the screen was on the left, while large numbers accentuated pupil dilation when the darker part of the screen was on the right. This finding provides direct evidence for covert attention shifts on a left-to-right oriented mental spatial representation of numbers. From a more general perspective, it shows that the pupillary response to light is subject to modulation from spatial attention mechanisms operating on mental contents.
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Pan Y, Zhang Z, Li W, Zhao X. The Effect of Verbal Task Instruction on Spatial-Numerical Associations of Response Codes Effect Coding of Spatial-Numerical Associations: Evidence From Event-Related Potential. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:648095. [PMID: 35242004 PMCID: PMC8885790 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.648095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2020] [Accepted: 01/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The spatial-numerical associations of response codes (SNARC) effect reveals that individuals can represent numbers spatially. In this study, event-related potential (ERP) technology was used to probe the effect of verbal-spatial task instructions on spatial-numerical association coding by using digit parity and magnitude judgment tasks, with the numbers 1–9 (except 5) and Chinese word labels (“left” and “right”) as experimental materials. The behavioral results of Experiment 1 showed that the SNARC effect was mainly based on verbal-spatial coding and appeared when the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the presentation of the verbal labels and the target digit was 0 ms. ERP results did not reveal any significant SNARC-related effects in either the N1 or P3 components. The behavioral results of Experiment 2 again showed that the SNARC effect was dominated by verbal-spatial coding. ERP results showed that significant effects related to verbal-spatial coding were found in both the early positive deflection of the stimulus-locked lateralized readiness potential (S-LRP) and the latency of the response-locked LRP (R-LRP). Hence, in this study, the nature of the spatial coding of the digit magnitudes was influenced by the processing of the word labels and affected both the response selection and response preparation stages.
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Bettoni R, Addabbo M, Bulf H, Macchi Cassia V. Electrophysiological Evidence of Space-Number Associations in 9-Month-Old Infants. Child Dev 2021; 92:2142-2152. [PMID: 34028788 PMCID: PMC8518867 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Infant research is providing accumulating evidence that number-space mappings appear early in development. Here, a Posner cueing paradigm was used to investigate the neural mechanisms underpinning the attentional bias induced by nonsymbolic numerical cues in 9-month-old infants (N = 32). Event-related potentials and saccadic reaction time were measured to the onset of a peripheral target flashing right after the offset of a centered small or large numerical cue, with the location of the target being either congruent or incongruent with the number's relative position on a left-to-right oriented representational continuum. Results indicated that the cueing effect induced by numbers on infants' orienting of eye gaze brings about sensory facilitation in processing visual information at the cued location.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Hermann Bulf
- University of Milano-Bicocca.,Milan Center for Neuroscience
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7
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Measuring spontaneous and automatic processing of magnitude and parity information of Arabic digits by frequency-tagging EEG. Sci Rep 2020; 10:22254. [PMID: 33335293 PMCID: PMC7747728 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-79404-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2019] [Accepted: 11/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Arabic digits (1–9) are everywhere in our daily lives. These symbols convey various semantic information, and numerate adults can easily extract from them several numerical features such as magnitude and parity. Nonetheless, since most studies used active processing tasks to assess these properties, it remains unclear whether and to what degree the access to magnitude and especially to parity is automatic. Here we investigated with EEG whether spontaneous processing of magnitude or parity can be recorded in a frequency-tagging approach, in which participants are passively stimulated by fast visual sequences of Arabic digits. We assessed automatic magnitude processing by presenting a stream of frequent small digit numbers mixed with deviant large digits (and the reverse) with a sinusoidal contrast modulation at the frequency of 10 Hz. We used the same paradigm to investigate numerical parity processing, contrasting odd digits to even digits. We found significant brain responses at the frequency of the fluctuating change and its harmonics, recorded on electrodes encompassing right occipitoparietal regions, in both conditions. Our findings indicate that both magnitude and parity are spontaneously and unintentionally extracted from Arabic digits, which supports that they are salient semantic features deeply associated to digit symbols in long-term memory.
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Shifting attention does not influence numerical processing. Atten Percept Psychophys 2020; 82:3920-3930. [PMID: 32914341 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-020-02112-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Many theories of numerical cognition assume that numbers and space share a common representation at the response level. For example, observers are faster to respond to small numbers with their left hand and large numbers with their right hand (the SNARC effect). There is also evidence that viewing numbers can produce spatial shifts of attention, suggesting that attention may play a role in the spatial representation of numbers. In the present study, we assessed whether shifts of attention can influence numerical processing. Participants viewed a leftward or rightward peripheral cue followed by a centrally presented number, then judged whether the number was odd or even. Participants responded faster and made fewer errors when the number magnitude and response side were compatible, revealing a response-based SNARC effect. Participants also responded faster when the cue direction and response side were compatible, revealing a Simon effect. However, participants did not respond faster when the cue direction and number magnitude were compatible. Similar findings were observed when the association between numbers and space was relatively explicit. Moreover, although we failed to observe a response-based SNARC effect when number magnitude was directly relevant to observers' task, we observed a large Simon effect. Together, these findings suggest that although numbers and space share a common representation at the response level, attention does not play a substantial role in the spatial representation of numbers.
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Fischer MH, Dodd MD, Castel AD, Pratt J. The Unbearable Lightness of Attentional Cuing by Symbolic Magnitude: Commentary on the Registered Replication Report by Colling et al. ADVANCES IN METHODS AND PRACTICES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2020. [DOI: 10.1177/2515245920902743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Alan D. Castel
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles
| | - Jay Pratt
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
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Pinto M, Pellegrino M, Marson F, Lasaponara S, Doricchi F. Reconstructing the origins of the space-number association: spatial and number-magnitude codes must be used jointly to elicit spatially organised mental number lines. Cognition 2019; 190:143-156. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.04.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2018] [Revised: 04/26/2019] [Accepted: 04/30/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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The Attentional-SNARC effect 16 years later: no automatic space–number association (taking into account finger counting style, imagery vividness, and learning style in 174 participants). Exp Brain Res 2019; 237:2633-2643. [DOI: 10.1007/s00221-019-05617-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2019] [Accepted: 07/27/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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12
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Pinto M, Fattorini E, Lasaponara S, D'Onofrio M, Fortunato G, Doricchi F. Visualising numerals: An ERPs study with the attentional SNARC task. Cortex 2018; 101:1-15. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.12.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2017] [Revised: 08/10/2017] [Accepted: 12/19/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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13
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Cornu V, Schiltz C, Pazouki T, Martin R. Training early visuo-spatial abilities: A controlled classroom-based intervention study. APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/10888691.2016.1276835] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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14
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Liu J, Zhang H, Chen C, Chen H, Cui J, Zhou X. The neural circuits for arithmetic principles. Neuroimage 2017; 147:432-446. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.12.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2016] [Revised: 12/10/2016] [Accepted: 12/13/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
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Hartmann M, Mast FW. Loudness counts: Interactions between loudness, number magnitude, and space. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2016; 70:1305-1322. [PMID: 27109592 DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2016.1182194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
ATOM (a theory of magnitude) suggests that magnitude information of different formats (numbers, space, and time) is processed within a generalized magnitude network. In this study we investigated whether loudness, as a possible indicator of intensity and magnitude, interacts with the processing of numbers. Small and large numbers, spoken in a quiet and a loud voice, were simultaneously presented to the left and right ear (Experiments 1a and 1b). Participants judged whether the number presented to the left or right ear was louder or larger. Responses were faster when the smaller number was spoken in a quiet voice, and the larger number in a loud voice. Thus, task-irrelevant numerical information influenced the processing of loudness and vice versa. This bi-directional link was also confirmed by classical SNARC paradigms (spatial-numerical association of response codes; Experiments 2a-2c) when participants again judged the magnitude or loudness of separately presented stimuli. In contrast, no loudness-number association was found in a parity judgment task. Regular SNARC effects were found in the magnitude and parity judgment task, but not in the loudness judgment task. Instead, in the latter task, response side was associated with loudness. Possible explanations for these results are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Hartmann
- a Department of Psychology , University of Bern , Bern , Switzerland
| | - Fred W Mast
- a Department of Psychology , University of Bern , Bern , Switzerland
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16
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Myachykov A, Ellis R, Cangelosi A, Fischer MH. Ocular drift along the mental number line. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2016; 80:379-88. [PMID: 26724955 PMCID: PMC4826417 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-015-0731-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2015] [Accepted: 11/18/2015] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
We examined the spontaneous association between numbers and space by documenting attention deployment and the time course of associated spatial-numerical mapping with and without overt oculomotor responses. In Experiment 1, participants maintained central fixation while listening to number names. In Experiment 2, they made horizontal target-direct saccades following auditory number presentation. In both experiments, we continuously measured spontaneous ocular drift in horizontal space during and after number presentation. Experiment 2 also measured visual-probe-directed saccades following number presentation. Reliable ocular drift congruent with a horizontal mental number line emerged during and after number presentation in both experiments. Our results provide new evidence for the implicit and automatic nature of the oculomotor resonance effect associated with the horizontal spatial-numerical mapping mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andriy Myachykov
- Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Northumberland Building, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK. .,Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation.
| | - Rob Ellis
- School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
| | - Angelo Cangelosi
- School of Computing and Mathematics, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
| | - Martin H Fischer
- Division of Cognitive Science, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
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On the instability and constraints of the interaction between number representation and spatial attention in healthy humans. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2016; 227:223-56. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2016.04.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
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Myachykov A, Cangelosi A, Ellis R, Fischer MH. The oculomotor resonance effect in spatial-numerical mapping. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2015; 161:162-9. [PMID: 26398486 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2014] [Revised: 08/12/2015] [Accepted: 09/08/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated automatic Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect in auditory number processing. Two experiments continually measured spatial characteristics of ocular drift at central fixation during and after auditory number presentation. Consistent with the notion of a spatially oriented mental number line, we found spontaneous magnitude-dependent gaze adjustments, both with and without a concurrent saccadic task. This fixation adjustment (1) had a small-number/left-lateralized bias and (2) it was biphasic as it emerged for a short time around the point of lexical access and it received later robust representation around following number onset. This pattern suggests a two-step mechanism of sensorimotor mapping between numbers and space - a first-pass bottom-up activation followed by a top-down and more robust horizontal SNARC. Our results inform theories of number processing as well as simulation-based approaches to cognition by identifying the characteristics of an oculomotor resonance phenomenon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andriy Myachykov
- Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom; Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation.
| | - Angelo Cangelosi
- School of Computing and Mathematics, University of Plymouth, United Kingdom
| | - Rob Ellis
- School of Psychology, University of Plymouth
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20
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Fischer MH, Knops A. Attentional cueing in numerical cognition. Front Psychol 2014; 5:1381. [PMID: 25520689 PMCID: PMC4249257 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2014] [Accepted: 11/11/2014] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Martin H Fischer
- Division of Cognitive Science, University of Potsdam Potsdam - Golm, Germany
| | - André Knops
- Emmy Noether Research Group Leader, Department of Psychology, Humboldt-University Berlin Berlin, Germany
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