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Viarouge A, de Hevia MD. What makes different number-space mappings interact? PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024:10.1007/s00426-024-01958-5. [PMID: 38607389 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-024-01958-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
Models of numerical cognition consider a visuo-spatial representation to be at the core of numerical processing, the 'mental number line'. Two main interference effects between number and space have been described: the SNARC effect reflects a small number/left side and large number/right side association (number-location mapping); the size-congruity effect (SCE) reflects a small number/small size and large number/large size association (number-size mapping). Critically, a thorough investigation on the representational source for these two number-space mappings is lacking, leaving open the question of whether the same representation underlies both phenomena. Here, we build on a recent study (Viarouge and de Hevia in Front Hum Neurosci 15:750964, 2021) in order to address this question in three experiments, by systematically manipulating the presence of the two conditions that might elicit an interaction between SNARC and SCE: (i) an implicit task whereby numerical and spatial information are task-irrelevant, (ii) a design in which the number-space congruency relative to both mappings vary at the same level -either both within or between blocks. Experiment 1 replicated the interaction between the two mappings when both factors were present. Experiments 2 and 3 dissociated the two factors by varying the two mappings at the same level but using an explicit comparison task (Experiment 2), or by using an implicit task but with mappings varying at different levels (Experiment 3). We found that both factors, either in combination or used in isolation, drive the interaction between the two number-space mappings. These findings are discussed in terms of the weight given to each mapping, suggesting that a single representation encompassing both number-space mappings is therefore activated whenever both mappings are given equal weight through task requirements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arnaud Viarouge
- Laboratory for the Psychology of Child Development and Education (LaPsyDÉ), CNRS, Université Paris Cité, 46 Rue Saint Jacques, 75005, Paris, France.
| | - Maria Dolores de Hevia
- Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, F-75006, Paris, France
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2
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de Hevia MD, Nava E. Intuitive mapping between nonsymbolic quantity and observed action across development. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 237:105758. [PMID: 37579614 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105758] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2023] [Revised: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/19/2023] [Indexed: 08/16/2023]
Abstract
Adults' concurrent processing of numerical and action information yields bidirectional interference effects consistent with a cognitive link between these two systems of representation. This link is in place early in life: infants create expectations of congruency across numerical and action-related stimuli (i.e., a small [large] hand aperture associated with a smaller [larger] numerosity). Although these studies point to a developmental continuity of this mapping, little is known about the later development and thus how experience shapes such relationships. We explored how number-action intuitions develop across early and later childhood using the same methodology as in adults. We asked 3-, 6-, and 8-year-old children, as well as adults, to relate the magnitude of an observed action (a static hand shape, open vs. closed, in Experiment 1; a dynamic hand movement, opening vs. closing, in Experiment 2) to either a small or large nonsymbolic quantity (numerosity in Experiment 1 and numerosity and/or object size in Experiment 2). From 6 years of age, children started performing in a systematic congruent way in some conditions, but only 8-year-olds (added in Experiment 2) and adults performed reliably above chance in this task. We provide initial evidence that early intuitions guiding infants' mapping between magnitude across nonsymbolic number and observed action are used in an explicit way only from late childhood, with a mapping between action and size possibly being the most intuitive. An initial coarse mapping between number and action is likely modulated with extensive experience with grasping and related actions directed to both arrays and individual objects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Dolores de Hevia
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, Université Paris Cité, National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), F-75006 Paris, France.
| | - Elena Nava
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy.
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Gennari G, Dehaene S, Valera C, Dehaene-Lambertz G. Spontaneous supra-modal encoding of number in the infant brain. Curr Biol 2023; 33:1906-1915.e6. [PMID: 37071994 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.03.062] [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: 10/17/2022] [Revised: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 03/21/2023] [Indexed: 04/20/2023]
Abstract
The core knowledge hypothesis postulates that infants automatically analyze their environment along abstract dimensions, including numbers. According to this view, approximate numbers should be encoded quickly, pre-attentively, and in a supra-modal manner by the infant brain. Here, we directly tested this idea by submitting the neural responses of sleeping 3-month-old infants, measured with high-density electroencephalography (EEG), to decoders designed to disentangle numerical and non-numerical information. The results show the emergence, in approximately 400 ms, of a decodable number representation, independent of physical parameters, that separates auditory sequences of 4 vs. 12 tones and generalizes to visual arrays of 4 vs. 12 objects. Thus, the infant brain contains a number code that transcends sensory modality, sequential or simultaneous presentation, and arousal state.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Gennari
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit U992, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Direction de la Recherche Fondamentale/Institut Joliot, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ERL9003, NeuroSpin Center, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Neuroscience Institute, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
| | - Stanislas Dehaene
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit U992, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Direction de la Recherche Fondamentale/Institut Joliot, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ERL9003, NeuroSpin Center, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Collège de France, Université Paris Sciences Lettres (PSL), 75005 Paris, France
| | - Chanel Valera
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit U992, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Direction de la Recherche Fondamentale/Institut Joliot, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ERL9003, NeuroSpin Center, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Ghislaine Dehaene-Lambertz
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit U992, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Direction de la Recherche Fondamentale/Institut Joliot, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ERL9003, NeuroSpin Center, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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4
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Garcia-Sanz S, Ghotme KA, Hedmont D, Arévalo-Jaimes MY, Cohen Kadosh R, Serra-Grabulosa JM, Redolar-Ripoll D. Use of transcranial magnetic stimulation for studying the neural basis of numerical cognition: A systematic review. J Neurosci Methods 2022; 369:109485. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2022.109485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2021] [Revised: 12/08/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
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Bryer MAH, Koopman SE, Cantlon JF, Piantadosi ST, MacLean EL, Baker JM, Beran MJ, Jones SM, Jordan KE, Mahamane S, Nieder A, Perdue BM, Range F, Stevens JR, Tomonaga M, Ujfalussy DJ, Vonk J. The evolution of quantitative sensitivity. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200529. [PMID: 34957840 PMCID: PMC8710878 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability to represent approximate quantities appears to be phylogenetically widespread, but the selective pressures and proximate mechanisms favouring this ability remain unknown. We analysed quantity discrimination data from 672 subjects across 33 bird and mammal species, using a novel Bayesian model that combined phylogenetic regression with a model of number psychophysics and random effect components. This allowed us to combine data from 49 studies and calculate the Weber fraction (a measure of quantity representation precision) for each species. We then examined which cognitive, socioecological and biological factors were related to variance in Weber fraction. We found contributions of phylogeny to quantity discrimination performance across taxa. Of the neural, socioecological and general cognitive factors we tested, cortical neuron density and domain-general cognition were the strongest predictors of Weber fraction, controlling for phylogeny. Our study is a new demonstration of evolutionary constraints on cognition, as well as of a relation between species-specific neuron density and a particular cognitive ability. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Systems neuroscience through the lens of evolutionary theory’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margaret A H Bryer
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.,Department of Psychology, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Sarah E Koopman
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9AJ, UK
| | - Jessica F Cantlon
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Steven T Piantadosi
- Department of Psychology, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Evan L MacLean
- School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA.,College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
| | - Joseph M Baker
- Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research, Division of Brain Sciences, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Michael J Beran
- Department of Psychology and Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA
| | - Sarah M Jones
- Psychology Program, Berea College, Berea, KY 40403, USA
| | - Kerry E Jordan
- Department of Psychology, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA
| | - Salif Mahamane
- Behavioral and Social Sciences Department, Western Colorado University, Gunnison, CO 81231, USA
| | - Andreas Nieder
- Animal Physiology Unit, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72076, Germany
| | - Bonnie M Perdue
- Department of Psychology, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA 30030, USA
| | - Friederike Range
- Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Savoyenstrasse 1a, Vienna 1160, Austria
| | - Jeffrey R Stevens
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA
| | | | - Dorottya J Ujfalussy
- MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group, Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences (ELTE), Budapest 1117, Hungary.,Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences (ELTE), Budapest 1117, Hungary
| | - Jennifer Vonk
- Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309, USA
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Dos Santos CF. Re-establishing the distinction between numerosity, numerousness, and number in numerical cognition. PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2022.2029387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- César Frederico Dos Santos
- Department of Philosophy, Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, Brazil
- Department of Philosophy, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Viarouge A, de Hevia MD. Can a Single Representational Object Account for Different Number-Space Mappings? Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:750964. [PMID: 34671249 PMCID: PMC8520985 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.750964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
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.
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de Hevia MD. How the Human Mind Grounds Numerical Quantities on Space. CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/cdep.12398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Individually distinctive features facilitate numerical discrimination of sets of objects in domestic chicks. Sci Rep 2020; 10:16408. [PMID: 33009471 PMCID: PMC7532216 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-73431-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2020] [Accepted: 09/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Day-old domestic chicks approach the larger of two groups of identical objects, but in a 3 vs 4 comparison, their performance is random. Here we investigated whether adding individually distinctive features to each object would facilitate such discrimination. Chicks reared with 7 objects were presented with the operation 1 + 1 + 1 vs 1 + 1 + 1 + 1. When objects were all identical, chicks performed randomly, as expected (Experiment 1). In the remaining experiments, objects differed from one another due to additional features. Chicks succeeded when those features were differently oriented segments (Experiment 2) but failed when the features were arranged to depict individually different face-like displays (Experiment 3). Discrimination was restored if the face-like stimuli were presented upside-down, disrupting global processing (Experiment 4). Our results support the claim that numerical discrimination in 3 vs 4 comparison benefits from the presence of distinctive features that enhance object individuation due to individual processing. Interestingly, when the distinctive features are arranged into upright face-like displays, the process is susceptible to global over local interference due to configural processing. This study was aimed at assessing whether individual object processing affects numerical discrimination. We hypothesise that in humans similar strategies aimed at improving performance at the non-symbolic level may have positive effects on symbolic mathematical abilities.
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Franzon F, Zanini C, Rugani R. Cognitive and communicative pressures in the emergence of grammatical structure: A closer look at whether number sense is encoded in privileged ways. Cogn Neuropsychol 2020; 37:355-358. [DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2020.1802241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Franzon
- Neuroscience Area, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Trieste, Italy
| | - Chiara Zanini
- Romanisches Seminar (RoSe), Universität Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Rosa Rugani
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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Mahon BZ, Kemmerer D. Interactions between language, thought, and perception: Cognitive and neural perspectives. Cogn Neuropsychol 2020; 37:235-240. [PMID: 33172363 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2020.1829578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2020] [Revised: 09/23/2020] [Accepted: 09/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
ABSTRACT The role that language plays in shaping non-linguistic cognitive and perceptual systems has been the subject of much theoretical and experimental attention over the past half-century. Understanding how language interacts with non-linguistic systems can provide insight into broader constraints on cognitive and brain organization. The papers that form this volume investigate various ways in which linguistic structure can interact with and influence how speakers think about and perceive the world, and the related issue of the constraints that in turn shape linguistic representations. These theoretical and empirical contributions support deeper understanding of the interactions between language, thought, and perception, and motivate new approaches for developing directional predictions at both the neural and cognitive levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bradford Z Mahon
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA
- Carnegie Mellon Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - David Kemmerer
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
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