scholarly journals The Developing Mental Number Line: Does Its Directionality Relate to 5- to 7-Year-Old Children’s Mathematical Abilities?

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren S. Aulet ◽  
Stella F. Lourenco
Keyword(s):  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Mathematical Abilities

Moving on Down the (Mental Number) Line

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Landy ◽  
Zachary J. Davis ◽  
Brian M. Guay ◽  
Megan L. Delaunay ◽  
Arthur Charlesworth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line

EXPRESS: Spatial-numerical associations from a novel paradigm support the Mental Number Line account

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110087
Author(s):  
Lauren Aulet ◽  
Sami R Yousif ◽  
Stella Lourenco
Keyword(s):  
Memory Task ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Numerical Magnitude ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Alternative Account ◽  
Subject Design ◽  
Multiple Tasks

Multiple tasks have been used to demonstrate the relation between numbers and space. The classic interpretation of these directional spatial-numerical associations (d-SNAs) is that they are the product of a mental number line (MNL), in which numerical magnitude is intrinsically associated with spatial position. The alternative account is that d-SNAs reflect task demands, such as explicit numerical judgments and/or categorical responses. In the novel ‘Where was The Number?’ task, no explicit numerical judgments were made. Participants were simply required to reproduce the location of a numeral within a rectangular space. Using a between-subject design, we found that numbers, but not letters, biased participants’ responses along the horizontal dimension, such that larger numbers were placed more rightward than smaller numbers, even when participants completed a concurrent verbal working memory task. These findings are consistent with the MNL account, such that numbers specifically are inherently left-to-right oriented in Western participants.

The role of visual experience for spatial numerical associations

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (0) ◽  
pp. 222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Proulx ◽  
Achille Pasqualotto ◽  
Shuichiro Taya
Keyword(s):  
Visual Experience ◽  
Opposite Effect ◽  
Random Number Generation ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Generation Task ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Right

The topographic representation of space interacts with the mental representation of number. Evidence for such number–space relations have been reported in both synaesthetic and non-synaesthetic participants. Thus far most studies have only examined related effects in sighted participants. For example, the mental number line increases in magnitude from left to right in sighted individuals (Loetscher et al., 2008, Curr. Biol.). What is unclear is whether this association arises from innate mechanisms or requires visual experience early in life to develop in this way. Here we investigated the role of visual experience for the left to right spatial numerical association using a random number generation task in congenitally blind, late blind, and blindfolded sighted participants. Participants orally generated numbers randomly whilst turning their head to the left and right. Sighted participants generated smaller numbers when they turned their head to the left than to the right, consistent with past results. In contrast, congenitally blind participants generated smaller numbers when they turned their head to the right than to the left, exhibiting the opposite effect. The results of the late blind participants showed an intermediate profile between that of the sighted and congenitally blind participants. Visual experience early in life is therefore necessary for the development of the spatial numerical association of the mental number line.

scholarly journals Sharing a mental number line across individuals? The role of body position and empathy in joint numerical cognition

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (7) ◽  
pp. 1732-1740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Hartmann ◽  
Martin H Fischer ◽  
Fred W Mast
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Cognition ◽  
Body Position ◽  
Random Number Generation ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Response Level ◽  
Spatial Reference ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Spatial Reference Frame

A growing body of research shows that the human brain acts differently when performing a task together with another person than when performing the same task alone. In this study, we investigated the influence of a co-actor on numerical cognition using a joint random number generation (RNG) task. We found that participants generated relatively smaller numbers when they were located to the left (vs. right) of a co-actor (Experiment 1), as if the two individuals shared a mental number line and predominantly selected numbers corresponding to their relative body position. Moreover, the mere presence of another person on the left or right side or the processing of numbers from loudspeaker on the left or right side had no influence on the magnitude of generated numbers (Experiment 2), suggesting that a bias in RNG only emerged during interpersonal interactions. Interestingly, the effect of relative body position on RNG was driven by participants with high trait empathic concern towards others, pointing towards a mediating role of feelings of sympathy for joint compatibility effects. Finally, the spatial bias emerged only after the co-actors swapped their spatial position, suggesting that joint spatial representations are constructed only after the spatial reference frame became salient. In contrast to previous studies, our findings cannot be explained by action co-representation because the consecutive production of numbers does not involve conflict at the motor response level. Our results therefore suggest that spatial reference coding, rather than motor mirroring, can determine joint compatibility effects. Our results demonstrate how physical properties of interpersonal situations, such as the relative body position, shape seemingly abstract cognition.

Spatial-numerical associations from a novel paradigm support the mental number line account

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren S Aulet ◽  
Sami Ryan Yousif ◽  
Stella F. Lourenco
Keyword(s):  
Memory Task ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Numerical Magnitude ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Alternative Account ◽  
Subject Design ◽  
Multiple Tasks

Multiple tasks have been used to demonstrate the relation between numbers and space. The classic interpretation of these directional spatial-numerical associations (d-SNAs) is that they are the product of a mental number line (MNL), in which numerical magnitude is intrinsically associated with spatial position. The alternative account is that d-SNAs reflect task demands, such as explicit numerical judgments and/or categorical responses. In the novel ‘Where was The Number?’ task, no explicit numerical judgments were made. Participants were simply required to reproduce the location of a numeral within a rectangular space. Using a between-subject design, we found that numbers, but not letters, biased participants’ responses along the horizontal dimension, such that larger numbers were placed more rightward than smaller numbers, even when participants completed a concurrent verbal working memory task. These findings are consistent with the MNL account, such that numbers specifically are inherently left-to-right oriented in Western participants.

scholarly journals Best Thing Is Always in the Middle? An Investigation of Centrality Preference By Eye-Tracking Technique and Memory Recall

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lap-Yan Lo ◽  
Cheuk-Yu Tsang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Recall Test ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Horizontal Line ◽  
Memory Recall ◽  
Tracking Technique ◽  
Fixation Points ◽  
The Relationship

An object located in the centre position is believed to be the most attended and well remembered, which increases its likelihood of being chosen (i.e., centrality preference). However, the literature has yielded inconsistent evidence. With the support of an eye-tracking technique, this study tried to provide another means of examining the relationship between preference and attention. Thirty undergraduates were asked to choose one of five similar items presented on a horizontal line. The findings on eye fixation points and looking duration positively related to the probability of an item being chosen as the preferred item. Yet performance in a recall test revealed an independence between preference and remembering. Furthermore, an unexpectedly large proportion of the participants also preferred the items on the leftmost side of the array. The mental number line and social norms, together with centrality preference, were used to provide an explanation of our implicit preference in decision making.

scholarly journals Calibrating the mental number line

Cognition ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 106 (3) ◽  
pp. 1221-1247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Véronique Izard ◽  
Stanislas Dehaene
Keyword(s):  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line

scholarly journals Categorizing digits and the mental number line

2019 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 614-620
Author(s):  
Dennis Reike ◽  
Wolf Schwarz
Keyword(s):  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line

The Mental Number Line in Dyscalculia: Impaired Number Sense or Access From Symbolic Numbers?

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 672-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Lafay ◽  
Marie-Catherine St-Pierre ◽  
Joël Macoir
Keyword(s):  
Number Sense ◽  
Absolute Error ◽  
Number Line ◽  
Mental Number Line ◽  
Mathematics Difficulties ◽  
Quebec French ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Per Se

Numbers may be manipulated and represented mentally over a compressible number line oriented from left to right. According to numerous studies, one of the primary reasons for dyscalculia is related to improper understanding of the mental number line. Children with dyscalculia usually show difficulty when they have to place Arabic numbers on a physical number line. However, it remains unclear whether they have a deficit with the mental number line per se or a deficit with accessing it from nonsymbolic and/or symbolic numbers. Quebec French-speaking 8- to 9-year-old children with (24) and without (37) dyscalculia were assessed with transcoding tasks ( number-to-position and position-to-number) designed to assess the acuity of the mental number line with Arabic and spoken numbers as well as with analogic numerosities. Results showed that children with dyscalculia produced a larger percentage absolute error than children without mathematics difficulties in every task except the number-to-position transcoding task with analogic numerosities. Hence, these results suggested that children with dyscalculia do not have a general deficit of the mental number line but rather a deficit with accessing it from symbolic numbers.

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