scholarly journals Numerical cognition in action: Reaching behavior reveals numerical distance effects in 5- to 6-year-olds

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 286-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Erb ◽  
Jeff Moher ◽  
Joo-Hyun Song ◽  
David M. Sobel
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Representation ◽  
Numerical Cognition ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Numerical Comparison ◽  
Digital Display ◽  
Numerical Distance ◽  
Tight Coupling ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
The Right ◽  
Trial Participants

This study investigates how children’s numerical cognition is reflected in their unfolding actions. Five- and 6-year-olds (N = 34) completed a numerical comparison task by reaching to touch one of three rectangles arranged horizontally on a digital display. A number from 1 to 9 appeared in the center rectangle on each trial. Participants were instructed to touch the left rectangle for numbers 1-4, the center rectangle for 5, and the right rectangle for 6-9. Reach trajectories were more curved toward the center rectangle for numbers closer to 5 (e.g., 4) than numbers further from 5 (e.g., 1). This finding indicates that a tight coupling exists between numerical and spatial information in children’s cognition and action as early as the preschool years. In addition to shedding new light on the spatial representation of numbers during childhood, our results highlight the promise of incorporating measures of manual dynamics into developmental research.

Neural Correlates of Symbolic Number Comparison in Developmental Dyscalculia

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 860-874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Mussolin ◽  
Anne De Volder ◽  
Cécile Grandin ◽  
Xavier Schlögel ◽  
Marie-Cécile Nassogne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Number Processing ◽  
Numerical Distance ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Developmental Dyscalculia ◽  
Disability History ◽  
Magnitude Processing ◽  
Number Magnitude ◽  
Number Comparison ◽  
The Right ◽  
Symbolic Number

Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is a deficit in number processing and arithmetic that affects 3–6% of schoolchildren. The goal of the present study was to analyze cerebral bases of DD related to symbolic number processing. Children with DD aged 9–11 years and matched children with no learning disability history were investigated using fMRI. The two groups of children were controlled for general cognitive factors, such as working memory, reading abilities, or IQ. Brain activations were measured during a number comparison task on pairs of Arabic numerals and a color comparison task on pairs of nonnumerical symbols. In each task, pairs of stimuli that were close or far on the relevant dimension were constituted. Brain activation in bilateral intraparietal sulcus (IPS) was modulated by numerical distance in controls but not in children with DD. Moreover, although the right IPS responded to numerical distance only, the left IPS was influenced by both numerical and color distances in control children. Our findings suggest that dyscalculia is associated with impairment in areas involved in number magnitude processing and, to a lesser extent, in areas dedicated to domain-general magnitude processing.

scholarly journals Symbolic number comparison is not processed by the analogue number system: different symbolic and nonsymbolic numerical distance and size effects

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Krajcsi ◽  
Gabor Lengyel ◽  
Petia Kojouharova
Keyword(s):  
Size Effects ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Numerical Cognition ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Number System ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Numerical Distance ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Number Comparison ◽  
Symbolic Number

Dominant numerical cognition models suppose that both symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers are processed by the Analogue Number System (ANS) working according to Weber’s law. It was proposed that in a number comparison task the numerical distance and size effects reflect a ratio-based performance which is the sign of the ANS activation. However, increasing number of findings and alternative models propose that symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers might be processed by different representations. Importantly, alternative explanations may offer similar predictions to the ANS prediction, therefore, former evidence usually utilizing only the goodness of fit of the ANS prediction is not sufficient to support the ANS account. To test the ANS model more rigorously, a more extensive test is offered here. Several properties of the ANS predictions for the error rates, reaction times and diffusion model drift rates were systematically analyzed in both nonsymbolic dot comparison and symbolic Indo-Arabic comparison tasks. It was consistently found that while the ANS model’s prediction is relatively good for the nonsymbolic dot comparison, its prediction is poorer and systematically biased for the symbolic Indo-Arabic comparison. We conclude that only nonsymbolic comparison is supported by the ANS, and symbolic number comparisons are processed by other representation.

Numerical Processing and Executive Functioning in Early Versus Middle Childhood: A Japanese Sample

2018 ◽  
Vol 125 (6) ◽  
pp. 1029-1054
Author(s):  
Kazufumi Omura ◽  
Shinya Matsuta
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Sixth Graders ◽  
Second Graders ◽  
Numerical Comparison ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Numerical Distance ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Numerical Processing ◽  
Age Related

Many previous studies have investigated developmental differences in numerical processing by manipulating numerical distance and physical size in a number sequence. While it has been theorized that children's maturity level in executive functioning affects their numerical processing, the interaction between numerical processing and executive functioning through development remains unclear. We divided 60 Japanese school children, aged 8–12 years, into three age-related groups (second graders, fourth graders, and sixth graders) and had them perform physical and numerical comparison Stroop tasks. In the physical comparison task, the numerical Stroop effect (i.e., automatic numerical processing) was evident in each group, but, in the numerical comparison task, the numerical distance effect (i.e., intentional numerical processing) was evident in each group. Also, in the numerical comparison task, the size congruity effect (an index of the attentional and inhibitory control mechanisms of executive functioning) was more salient among second graders than among fourth or sixth graders. These results suggest that numerical processing matures and then plateaus just before primary school, while executive functioning continues to develop. Thus, these data provide evidence of a developmental dissociation between numerical processing and executive functioning.

Neuroanatomical Substrates of Arabic Number Processing, Numerical Comparison, and Simple Addition: A PET Study

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 461-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Pesenti ◽  
Marc Thioux ◽  
Xavier Seron ◽  
Anne De Volder
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Cognition ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Numerical Comparison ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Simple Addition ◽  
Eyes Closed ◽  
Arabic Number ◽  
Arabic Digits ◽  
The Right

Positron emission tomography was used to localize the cerebral networks specifically involved in three basic numerical processes: arabic numeral processing, numerical magnitude comparison, and retrieval of simple addition facts. Relative cerebral blood flow changes were measured while normal volunteers were resting with eyes closed, making physical judgment on nonnumerical characters or arabic digits, comparing, or adding the same digits. Processing arabic digits bilaterally produced a large nonspecific activation of occipito-parietal areas, as well as a specific activation of the right anterior insula. Comparison and simple addition fact retrieval revealed a fronto-parietal network involving mainly the left intraparietal sulcus, the superior parietal lobule and the precentral gyrus. Comparison also activated, but to a lesser extent, the right superior parietal lobe, whereas addition also activated the orbito-frontal areas and the anterior insula in the right hemisphere. Implications for current anatomo-functional models of numerical cognition are drawn.

scholarly journals Verbal working memory load dissociates common indices of the numerical distance effect: Implications for the study of numerical cognition

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin A. Maloney ◽  
Nathaniel Barr ◽  
Evan F. Risko ◽  
Jonathan A. Fugelsang
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Cognition ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Distance Effect ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Task Structure ◽  
Numerical Comparison ◽  
Numerical Distance ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Physical Size ◽  
Numerical Distance Effect

In four experiments, we explore the role that verbal WM plays in numerical comparison. Experiment 1 demonstrates that verbal WM load differentially impacts the two most common variants of numerical comparison tasks, evidenced by distinct modulation of the size of the numerical distance effect (NDE). Specifically, when comparing one Arabic digit to a standard, the size of the NDE increases as a function of increased verbal WM load; however, when comparing two simultaneously presented Arabic digits, the size of the NDE decreases (and here is eliminated) as a function of an increased verbal WM load. Experiment 2, using the same task structure but different stimuli (physical size judgments), provides support for the notion that this pattern of results is unique to tasks employing numerical stimuli. Experiment 3 demonstrates that the patterns observed in Experiment 1 are not an artifact of the stimulus pairs used. Experiment 4 provides evidence that the differing pattern of results observed between Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 are due to differences in stimuli (numerical vs. non-numerical) rather than to other differences between tasks. These results are discussed in terms of current theories of numerical comparison.

Exploring the Boundaries of the Number–Temporal Order Association

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 198-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Ganor-Stern
Keyword(s):  
Embodied Cognition ◽  
Mental Representation ◽  
Temporal Order ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Numerical Comparison ◽  
Negative Number ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Negative Numbers ◽  
The Past

Past research has shown that numbers are associated with order in time such that performance in a numerical comparison task is enhanced when number pairs appear in ascending order, when the larger number follows the smaller one. This was found in the past for the integers 1–9 ( Ben-Meir, Ganor-Stern, & Tzelgov, 2013 ; Müller & Schwarz, 2008 ). In the present study we explored whether the advantage for processing numbers in ascending order exists also for fractions and negative numbers. The results demonstrate this advantage for fraction pairs and for integer-fraction pairs. However, the opposite advantage for descending order was found for negative numbers and for positive-negative number pairs. These findings are interpreted in the context of embodied cognition approaches and current theories on the mental representation of fractions and negative numbers.

scholarly journals Personalized Augmented Reality Based Tourism System: Big Data and User Demographic Contexts

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 6047
Author(s):  
Soheil Rezaee ◽  
Abolghasem Sadeghi-Niaraki ◽  
Maryam Shakeri ◽  
Soo-Mi Choi
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Augmented Reality ◽  
User Study ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Tourist Attraction ◽  
Gender And Education ◽  
Time Distance ◽  
Data Source ◽  
The Right

A lack of required data resources is one of the challenges of accepting the Augmented Reality (AR) to provide the right services to the users, whereas the amount of spatial information produced by people is increasing daily. This research aims to design a personalized AR that is based on a tourist system that retrieves the big data according to the users’ demographic contexts in order to enrich the AR data source in tourism. This research is conducted in two main steps. First, the type of the tourist attraction where the users interest is predicted according to the user demographic contexts, which include age, gender, and education level, by using a machine learning method. Second, the correct data for the user are extracted from the big data by considering time, distance, popularity, and the neighborhood of the tourist places, by using the VIKOR and SWAR decision making methods. By about 6%, the results show better performance of the decision tree by predicting the type of tourist attraction, when compared to the SVM method. In addition, the results of the user study of the system show the overall satisfaction of the participants in terms of the ease-of-use, which is about 55%, and in terms of the systems usefulness, about 56%.

scholarly journals Human spatial representation: what we cannot learn from the studies of rodent navigation

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (5) ◽  
pp. 2453-2465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mintao Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Representation ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Storage System ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Cellular Mechanisms ◽  
Human Navigation ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Closing The Loop ◽  
Species Similarity ◽  
Shed Light

Studies of human and rodent navigation often reveal a remarkable cross-species similarity between the cognitive and neural mechanisms of navigation. Such cross-species resemblance often overshadows some critical differences between how humans and nonhuman animals navigate. In this review, I propose that a navigation system requires both a storage system (i.e., representing spatial information) and a positioning system (i.e., sensing spatial information) to operate. I then argue that the way humans represent spatial information is different from that inferred from the cellular activity observed during rodent navigation. Such difference spans the whole hierarchy of spatial representation, from representing the structure of an environment to the representation of subregions of an environment, routes and paths, and the distance and direction relative to a goal location. These cross-species inconsistencies suggest that what we learn from rodent navigation does not always transfer to human navigation. Finally, I argue for closing the loop for the dominant, unidirectional animal-to-human approach in navigation research so that insights from behavioral studies of human navigation may also flow back to shed light on the cellular mechanisms of navigation for both humans and other mammals (i.e., a human-to-animal approach).

scholarly journals From Which Direction Does the Empire Strike (Back)?

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Theresa Halicki ◽  
Moritz Ingendahl ◽  
Maren Mayer ◽  
Melvin John ◽  
Marcel Raphael Schreiner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Opposite Direction ◽  
Spatial Representation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Spatial Representations ◽  
The Right ◽  
Attack And Defense

In cultures with left-right-script, agentic behavior is mentally represented as following a left-to-right trajectory, an effect referred to as the Spatial Agency Bias (SAB, Suitner and Maass, 2016). In this research, we investigated whether spatial representations of activities are universal across activities by analyzing the opposite concepts of “attack” and “defense”. Both behaviors involve similar actions (e.g., fighting) but may differ in perceived agency. Moreover “defense” is necessarily always a response to an attack and may therefore be represented by a trajectory in the opposite direction. Two studies found the classic SAB for activities representing attacking but a reduction (Study 1) and reversal (Study 2) for activities involving defense. Although the spatial representation of defense on the right was much weaker and less unequivocal than that of attack on the left, the results suggest that the spatial representations of defense and attack are located in different positions. Apparently not all actors and all activities are spatially represented on the left with a left-to-right trajectory but position and direction depend on the perceived agency. Directions for future research and applications of our findings are discussed.

Classification of Landscape Sensitivity in the Territory of Cremona

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pier Luigi Paolillo ◽  
Umberto Baresi ◽  
Roberto Bisceglie
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Information ◽  
Analytical Techniques ◽  
Urban System ◽  
Multidimensional Analysis ◽  
Environmental Constraints ◽  
Synthetic Indicators ◽  
Territorial Planning ◽  
Landscape Sensitivity ◽  
The Right

Centrality of landscape, in territorial planning, has been influencing for years, the testing of innovative analytical techniques aimed to gather peculiarities of urban and suburban context. The advent of Spatial Information System created the possibility to produce more detailed studies analyzing a lot of information dealing with territorial phenomena of crucial importance in spatial planning. The development of analytical systems based on multidimensional analysis may represent the right way to synthesize different phenomena that interact locally, in order to obtain the intrinsic sensitivity of a specific landscape as a result. In the case of Cremona Urban Variant, the production of thematic maps has allowed the construction of six synthetic indicators, dealing with specific aspects of Cremona landscape. The indicators are: i) insularisation of non – built spaces, ii) morphological / structural values, iii) perceptual landscape aspects, iv) permanence of urban system, v) degree of imperativeness of environmental constraints, vi) integrity of land use.

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