Commentary: A pointer about grasping numbers

Fischer, Martin H.; Sixtus, Elena; Göbel, Silke M.

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00227

Front. Psychol.

2015

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00227

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Commentary: A pointer about grasping numbers

Martin H. Fischer

Elena Sixtus

Silke M. Göbel

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Cited by 3 publications

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References 12 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…Some studies have highlighted that semantic information affects movements: in reaching-to-grasp one of two identical objects, grip aperture was larger when the object was labeled with the word “large” than when it was labeled with the word “small” (Gentilucci et al, 2000 ; but see also Glover and Dixon, 2002 ; Glover et al, 2004 ). With respect to numerical cognition, it has been suggested that hand movements could help children in learning how to solve symbolic additions (Novack et al, 2014 ; but see Fischer et al, 2015 for a critical comment). From this point of view, studies investigating the relationship between numbers and action (in particular finger movements, see Rusconi et al, 2005 ) will help to design new paradigms and training to improve numerical comprehension.…”

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confidence: 99%

Numbers in Action

Rugani

Sartori

2016

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Humans show a remarkable tendency to describe and think of numbers as being placed on a mental number line (MNL), with smaller numbers located on the left and larger ones on the right. Faster responses to small numbers are indeed performed on the left side of space, while responses to large numbers are facilitated on the right side of space (spatial-numerical association of response codes, SNARC effect). This phenomenon is considered the experimental demonstration of the MNL and has been extensively replicated throughout a variety of paradigms. Nevertheless, the majority of previous literature has mainly investigated this effect by means of response times and accuracy, whereas studies considering more subtle and automatic measures such as kinematic parameters are rare (e.g., in a reaching-to-grasp movement, the grip aperture is enlarged in responding to larger numbers than in responding to small numbers). In this brief review we suggest that numerical magnitude can also affect the what and how of action execution (i.e., temporal and spatial components of movement). This evidence could have large implications in the strongly debated issue concerning the effect of experience and culture on the orientation of MNL.

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confidence: 99%

Numbers in Action

Rugani

Sartori

2016

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Observation of Depictive Versus Tracing Gestures Selectively Aids Verbal Versus Visual–Spatial Learning in Primary School Children

Wermeskerken

Fijan

Eielts

et al. 2016

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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Previous research has established that gesture observation aids learning in children. The current study examined whether observation of gestures (i.e. depictive and tracing gestures) differentially affected verbal and visual-spatial retention when learning a route and its street names. Specifically, we explored whether children (n = 97) with lower visual and verbal workingmemory capacity benefited more from observing gestures as compared with children who score higher on these traits. To this end, 11-to 13-year-old children were presented with an instructional video of a route containing no gestures, depictive gestures, tracing gestures or both depictive and tracing gestures. Results indicated that the type of observed gesture affected performance: Observing tracing gestures or both tracing and depictive gestures increased performance on route retention, while observing depictive gestures or both depictive and tracing gestures increased performance on street name retention. These effects were not differentially affected by working-memory capacity.

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Creating semantics in tool use

Badets¹,

Michelet²,

Rugy³

2017

Cogn Process

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This article presents the first evidence for a functional link between tool use and the processing of abstract symbols like Arabic numbers. Participants were required to perform a tool-use task after the processing of an Arabic number. These numbers represented either a small (2 or 3) or a large magnitude (8 or 9). The tool-use task consisted in using inverse pliers for gripping either a small or a large object. The inverse pliers enable to dissociate the hand action from the tool action in relation to the object (i.e., closing the hand led to an opening of the tool and vice versa). The number/tool hypothesis predicts that the quantity representation associated with Arabic numbers will interact with the action of the tool toward the object. Conversely, the number/hand hypothesis predicts that the quantity associated with numbers will interact with the action of the hand toward the tool. Results confirmed the first hypothesis and rejected the second. Indeed, large numbers interacted with the action of the tool, such that participants were longer to perform an "opening-hand/closing-tool" action after the processing of large numbers. Moreover, no effect was detected for small numbers, confirming previous studies which used only finger movements. Altogether, our finding suggests that the well-known finger/number interaction can be reversed with tool use.

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Commentary: A pointer about grasping numbers

Cited by 3 publications

References 12 publications

Numbers in Action

Numbers in Action

Observation of Depictive Versus Tracing Gestures Selectively Aids Verbal Versus Visual–Spatial Learning in Primary School Children

Creating semantics in tool use

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