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Roth L, Jordan V, Schwarz S, Willmes K, Nuerk HC, van Dijck JP, Cipora K. Don't SNARC me now! Intraindividual variability of cognitive phenomena - Insights from the Ironman paradigm. Cognition 2024; 248:105781. [PMID: 38663115 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105781] [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: 06/03/2023] [Revised: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 05/26/2024]
Abstract
Two implicit generalizations are often made from group-level studies in cognitive experimental psychology and their common statistical analysis in the general linear model: (1) Group-level phenomena are assumed to be present in every participant with variations between participants being often treated as random error in data analyses; (2) phenomena are assumed to be stable over time. In this preregistered study, we investigated the validity of these generalizations in the commonly used parity judgment task. In the proposed Ironman paradigm, the intraindividual presence and stability of three popular numerical cognition effects were tested in 10 participants on 30 days: the SNARC (Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes, i.e., faster left-/right-sided responses to small/large magnitude numbers, respectively; Dehaene, Bossini, & Giraux, 1993), MARC (Linguistic Markedness of Response Codes; i.e., faster left-/right-sided responses to odd/even numbers, respectively; Nuerk, Iversen, & Willmes, 2004), and Odd (i.e., faster responses to even numbers; Hines, 1990) effects. We replicated the group-level effects; however, they were reliably present in only four to five (SNARC), six (MARC) or five (Odd) of 10 participants. Fluctuations seemed unsystematic, although the SNARC effect decreased over time along with reaction times. No correlation between the SNARC and MARC effects and sleep duration, tiredness, daytime, and consumption of stimulants were detected in most participants. These results challenge the frequent generalizations from group-level phenomena to individual participants and from single sessions to typical behavior. The innovative Ironman paradigm combined with bootstrap analyses permits unique insights into the intraindividual presence and stability of cognitive phenomena.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lilly Roth
- Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Verena Jordan
- Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Germany.
| | | | - Klaus Willmes
- Department of Neurology, University Clinic, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
| | - Hans-Christoph Nuerk
- Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Germany; LEAD Graduate School & Research Network, University of Tübingen, Germany; German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Germany.
| | - Jean-Philippe van Dijck
- Department of Applied Psychology, Thomas More University, Antwerp, Belgium; Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
| | - Krzysztof Cipora
- Centre for Mathematical Cognition, Loughborough University, United Kingdom.
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Ftaïta M, Guida A, Fartoukh M, Mathy F. Spatial-positional associations in short-term memory can vanish in long-term memory. Mem Cognit 2024:10.3758/s13421-024-01577-w. [PMID: 38867003 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-024-01577-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 06/14/2024]
Abstract
Studies on the SPoARC effect have shown that serial information is spatially processed in working memory. However, it remains unknown whether these spatial-positional associations are durable or only temporary. This study aimed at investigating whether spatialization would persist when a sequence presented repeatedly is expected to be chunked. If chunked, the items could be unified spatially and their spatialization could vanish. Thirty-seven participants performed a spatialization task which was remotely inspired by the Hebb repetition paradigm. A sequence of four stimuli presented individually in the middle of a computer screen was repeated throughout the task. After each sequence, participants had to decide whether a probe belonged to the series using two lateralized response keys. The results showed no spatialization for these repetitive sequences, on average. Moreover, further analysis revealed that the effect was detectable at the beginning of the task, suggesting that the more the sequence was repeated, the less participants spatialized information from left to right. These findings show that associations created in working memory between items and space can vanish in repeated sequences: we discuss the idea that working memory progressively saves on spatialization once a sequence is chunked in long-term memory.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Fabien Mathy
- BCL, CNRS, Université Côte d'Azur, Nice, France.
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Lenoir J, Badets A. Effect of egocentric and allocentric reference frames on spatial-numerical associations. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2023:17470218231216269. [PMID: 37953262 DOI: 10.1177/17470218231216269] [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: 11/14/2023]
Abstract
From an embodied view of cognition, sensorimotor mechanisms are strongly involved in abstract processing, such as Arabic number meanings. For example, spatial cognition can influence number processing. These spatial-numerical associations (SNAs) have been deeply explored since the seminal SNAs of response code (SNARC) effect (i.e., faster left/right sided responses to small/large magnitude numbers, respectively). Although these SNAs along the transverse plane (left-to-right axis) have been extensively studied in cognitive sciences, no systematic assessment of other planes of the tridimensional space has been afforded. Moreover, there is no evidence of how SNAs organise themselves throughout the changes in spatial body-reference frames (egocentric and allocentric). Hence, this study aimed to explore how SNAs organise themselves along the transverse and sagittal planes when egocentric and allocentric changes are processed during body displacements in the environment. In the first experiment, the results revealed that, when the participants used an egocentric reference, SNAs were observed only along the sagittal plane. In a second experiment that used an allocentric reference, the reversed pattern of results was observed: SNAs were present only along the transverse plane of the body. Overall, these findings suggest that, depending on the spatial reference frames of the body, SNAs are strongly flexible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie Lenoir
- INCIA-UMR 5287-CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Arnaud Badets
- INCIA-UMR 5287-CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
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Abrahamse E, van Dijck JP. Ranking-space: magnitude makes sense through spatially scaffolded ranking. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1224254. [PMID: 37484090 PMCID: PMC10358857 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1224254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2023] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Elger Abrahamse
- Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
- Department of Educational Sciences, Atlántico Medio University, Las Palmas, Spain
| | - Jean-Philippe van Dijck
- Expertise Centre for Care and Welfare, Thomas More, Antwerp, Belgium
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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Ftaïta M, Vivion M, Banks E, Guida A, Ramanoël S, Fartoukh M, Mathy F. Optimized experimental designs to best detect spatial positional association of response codes in working memory. Atten Percept Psychophys 2023:10.3758/s13414-023-02666-9. [PMID: 37264292 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02666-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
The SPoARC (Spatial Positional Association of Response Codes) effect refers to spatialization of information in working memory. Among the potential factors that could influence how order is mapped onto a mental space during the recognition process, we selected the following two factors: i) the type of stimuli, in particular their verbal vs. visual aspects and ii) the number of probes. In this study, 137 participants memorized sequences of either words or pictures and subsequently performed a recognition test for which they responded using lateralized keys. For half of the participants, only one probe was presented after each sequence, whereas the other half was administered several probes. A significantly greater number of participants presented a SPoARC using a single probe. We discuss that spatialization is best detected when the sequence is scanned only once. Results also showed no difference between the two types of stimuli (i.e., verbal vs. visual). This finding raises the question of the respective roles of verbalization and visualization in the SPoARC.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Stephen Ramanoël
- LAMHESS, Université Côte d'Azur, Nice, France
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, 17 rue Moreau, F-75012, Paris, France
| | | | - Fabien Mathy
- BCL, CNRS, Université Côte d'Azur, Nice, France.
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Sixtus E, Krause F, Lindemann O, Fischer MH. A sensorimotor perspective on numerical cognition. Trends Cogn Sci 2023; 27:367-378. [PMID: 36764902 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2021] [Revised: 01/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023]
Abstract
Numbers are present in every part of modern society and the human capacity to use numbers is unparalleled in other species. Understanding the mental and neural representations supporting this capacity is of central interest to cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and education. Embodied numerical cognition theory suggests that beyond the seemingly abstract symbols used to refer to numbers, their underlying meaning is deeply grounded in sensorimotor experiences, and that our specific understanding of numerical information is shaped by actions related to our fingers, egocentric space, and experiences with magnitudes in everyday life. We propose a sensorimotor perspective on numerical cognition in which number comprehension and numerical proficiency emerge from grounding three distinct numerical core concepts: magnitude, ordinality, and cardinality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Sixtus
- Empirical Childhood Research, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
| | - Florian Krause
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Oliver Lindemann
- Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Martin H Fischer
- Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
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van Dijck JP, Fias W, Cipora K. Spatialization in working memory and its relation to math anxiety. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2022; 1512:192-202. [PMID: 35274298 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14765] [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] [Received: 10/24/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Working memory (WM) is one of the most important cognitive functions that may play a role in the relation between math anxiety (MA) and math performance. The processing efficiency theory proposes that rumination and worrisome thoughts (induced by MA) result in less available WM resources (which are needed to solve math problems). At the same time, high MA individuals have lower verbal and spatial WM capacity in general. Extending these findings, we found that MA is also linked to the spatial coding of serial order in verbal WM: subjects who organize sequences from left-to-right in verbal WM show lower levels of MA compared with those who do not spatialize. Furthermore, these spatial coders have higher verbal WM capacity, better numerical order judgment abilities, and higher math scores. These findings suggest that spatially structuring the verbal mind is a promising cognitive correlate of MA and opens new avenues for exploring causal links between elementary cognitive processes and MA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Philippe van Dijck
- Department of Applied Psychology, Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Flanders, Belgium.,Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Wim Fias
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Krzysztof Cipora
- Centre for Mathematical Cognition, Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom
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Pitt B, Ferrigno S, Cantlon JF, Casasanto D, Gibson E, Piantadosi ST. Spatial concepts of number, size, and time in an indigenous culture. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:eabg4141. [PMID: 34380617 PMCID: PMC8357228 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg4141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
In industrialized groups, adults implicitly map numbers, time, and size onto space according to cultural practices like reading and counting (e.g., from left to right). Here, we tested the mental mappings of the Tsimane', an indigenous population with few such cultural practices. Tsimane' adults spatially arranged number, size, and time stimuli according to their relative magnitudes but showed no directional bias for any domain on any spatial axis; different mappings went in different directions, even in the same participant. These findings challenge claims that people have an innate left-to-right mapping of numbers and that these mappings arise from a domain-general magnitude system. Rather, the direction-specific mappings found in industrialized cultures may originate from direction-agnostic mappings that reflect the correlational structure of the natural world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Pitt
- Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| | - Stephen Ferrigno
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Jessica F Cantlon
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Daniel Casasanto
- Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Edward Gibson
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Zhou D, Cai Q, Luo J, Yi Z, Li Y, Seger CA, Chen Q. The neural mechanism of spatial-positional association in working memory: A fMRI study. Brain Cogn 2021; 152:105756. [PMID: 34051431 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Revised: 05/07/2021] [Accepted: 05/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
In the last decade, research has reported that items at the beginning of a memorized sequence are responded to faster with the left hand, whereas items at the end are responded to faster with the right hand. This Spatial-Positional Associations of Response Codes effect has been extensively studied using behavioral methods. However, the neural networks underlying it remain unclear. We found using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that the dorsal attention network was involved in spatial-positional associations, in particular a region of the right superior frontal cortex / pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), within which neural activity correlated with behavioral measures of the strength of spatial-positional associations. Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis revealed functional connectivity between this area and other regions of the dorsal attentional network including the SMA, and with the hippocampal-retrosplenial network. In contrast, explicit processing of serial order independent of spatial-positional associations was related to activity in the inferior parietal cortex. Our results provide new insight into positional coding theories of working memory, including the mental whiteboard hypothesis. They suggest that the behavioral effects of positional coding (congruency between hand and ordinal position within the list) are mediated through spatial and motor control maps in the dorsal attentional system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dandan Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, China; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, China; Institute of Psychology and Behavior, Henan University, Kaifeng 475000, China
| | - Qing Cai
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (MOE & STCSM), Shanghai Changning-ECNU Mental Health Center, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Jie Luo
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, China; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, China
| | - Zizhen Yi
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, China; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, China
| | - Yun Li
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, China; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, China
| | - Carol A Seger
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, China; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, China; Department of Psychology and Program in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Neurosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Qi Chen
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, China; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, China.
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Guida A, Mosinski F, Cipora K, Mathy F, Noël Y. Spatialization in working memory: can individuals reverse the cultural direction of their thoughts? Ann N Y Acad Sci 2020; 1477:113-125. [PMID: 32978800 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2020] [Revised: 08/31/2020] [Accepted: 09/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
A recent study based on the SPoARC effect (spatial position association response codes) showed that culture heavily shapes cognition and more specifically the way thought is organized; when Western adults are asked to keep in mind a sequence of colors, they mentally organize them from left to right, whereas right-to-left reading/writing adults spatialize them in the opposite direction. Here, we investigate if the spontaneous direction of spatialization in Westerners can be reversed. Lists of five consonants were presented auditorily at a rate of 3 s per item, participants were asked to mentally organize the memoranda from right to left. Each list was followed by a probe. Participants had to indicate whether the probe was part of the sequence by pressing a "yes" key or a "no" key with the left or right index finger. Left/right-hand key assignment was switched after half of the trials were completed. The results showed a reverse SPoARC effect that was comparable in magnitude to the spontaneous left-to-right SPoARC effect found in a previous study. Overall, our results suggest that individuals can reverse the cultural direction of their thoughts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Guida
- Laboratoire de Psychologie, Comportement, Cognition et Communication, Department of Psychology, Université Rennes, Rennes, France
| | - Francis Mosinski
- Department of Life Sciences and the Environment, Université Rennes, Rennes, France
| | - Krzysztof Cipora
- Centre for Mathematical Cognition, Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom
| | - Fabien Mathy
- Bases Corpus Langage UMR 7320 CNRS, Université Côte d'Azur, Nice, France
| | - Yvonnick Noël
- Laboratoire de Psychologie, Comportement, Cognition et Communication, Department of Psychology, Université Rennes, Rennes, France
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