How strongly linked are mental time and space along the left–right axis?

Eikmeier, Verena; Alex-Ruf, Simone; Maienborn, Claudia; Ulrich, Rolf

doi:10.1037/xlm0000129

Cited by 26 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(69 reference statements)

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“…Second, in Eikmeier, Alex‐Ruf, et al. (, experiment 2) the sounds were played on the participant's right or left side for examining the lateral axis. In both experiments the participant was asked to respond vocally to the location of the sound's source either with “back”/“front”/“left”/“right” in the control condition or with “past”/“future” in the experimental condition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Incorporated are studies that use the following temporal cues as stimulus, prime, or response, presented either visually or auditorily: Past‐ or future‐related words or phrases (Aguirre & Santiago, ; Bottini, Crepaldi, Casasanto, Crollen, & Collignon, ; Casasanto & Bottini, ; De la Vega, Eikmeier, Ulrich, & Kaup, ; Ding, Feng, Cheng, Liu, & Fan, ; Eikmeier, Alex‐Ruf, Maienborn, & Ulrich, , experiment 2; Eikmeier, Hoppe, & Ulrich, ; Eikmeier, Schröter, Maienborn, Alex‐Ruf, & Ulrich, , experiment 2; Hartmann & Mast, ; Kong & You, ; Ouellet, Román, & Santiago, ; Ouellet, Santiago, Funes, & Lupiáñez, ; Ouellet, Santiago, Israeli, et al., ; Rolke et al., ; Rolke, Ruiz Fernández, Seibold, & Rahona, ; Santiago, Lupiáñez, Pérez, & Funes, ; Torralbo et al., ; Weger & Pratt, , experiment 2); Sentences containing temporal information (Eikmeier, Alex‐Ruf, et al., , experiment 1; Eikmeier et al., , experiment 1; Maienborn et al., ; Scheifele et al., ; Sell & Kaschak, ; Ulrich & Maienborn, ; Ulrich et al., ); and Triplets of pictures showing the progression of an event at which the middle stage represents the reference point for an earlier and a later stage (Boroditsky, Fuhrman, & McCormick, ; Fuhrman & Boroditsky, ; Fuhrman et al., ) and entities such as buildings, actors, or life events that can be categorized as earlier or later compared to some given reference point (Loeffler, Raab, & Cañal‐Bruland, ; Miles, Tan, Noble, Lumsden, & Macrae, ; Walker, Bergen, & Núñez, , ; Weger & Pratt, , experiment 1). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Space–Time Congruency Effect: A Meta‐Analysis

et al. 2019

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Several reaction time (RT) studies report faster responses when responses to temporal information are arranged in a spatially congruent manner than when this arrangement is incongruent. The resulting space–time congruency effect is commonly attributed to a culturally salient localization of temporal information along a mental timeline (e.g., a mental timeline that runs from left to right). The present study aims to provide a compilation of the published RT studies on this time–space association in order to estimate the size of its effect and the extent of potential publication bias in this field of research. In this meta‐analysis, three types of task are distinguished due to hitherto existing empirical findings. These findings suggest that the extent to which time is made relevant to the experimental task has a systematic impact on whether or not the mental timeline is activated. The results of this meta‐analysis corroborate these considerations: First, experiments that make time a task‐relevant dimension have a mean effect size of d = 0.46. Second, in experiments in which time is task irrelevant, the effect size does not significantly deviate from zero. Third, temporal priming studies have a surprisingly high mean effect size of d = 0.47, which, however, should be adjusted to d = 0.36 due to publication bias.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Space–Time Congruency Effect: A Meta‐Analysis

et al. 2019

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“…As opposed to ATOM, this representation is thought to be culturally acquired rather than innate: in Western cultures, the left side of space is associated with short duration ( Vallesi et al, 2008 ; Vicario et al, 2008 ) or early/past times ( Santiago et al, 2007 ) while the direction is reversed ( Fuhrman and Boroditsky, 2010 ; Ouellet et al, 2010 ) or rotated to the vertical axis ( Boroditsky et al, 2011 ) in other cultures. The mental timeline also operates in the frontal (front-back) axis in adults ( Torralbo et al, 2006 ; Ulrich et al, 2012 ; Eikmeier et al, 2013 ; de la Fuente et al, 2014 ) and children ( Charras et al, 2017 ), and this egocentric representation of time may influence the way we conceptualize time even more strongly than horizontal (left–right) or vertical (up–down) orientations ( Eikmeier et al, 2015a ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Mental Timeline for Duration From the Age of 5 Years Old

2018

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Both time and number can be represented in spatial terms. While their representation in terms of spatial magnitude (distance or size) might be innate, their representation in terms of spatial position (left/right or up/down) is acquired. In Western culture, the mental timeline represents past/future events or short/long duration on the left/right sides of space, respectively. We conducted two developmental studies to pinpoint the age at which the mental timeline for duration begins to be acquired. Children (aged 5–6, 8, or 10 years old) and adults performed temporal bisection tasks in which relative spatial position (left/right) was manipulated by either arrow direction (Experiment 1) and/or lateralized stimulus location (Experiments 1 and 2). Results first confirmed previous findings that the symbolic representation of spatial position conveyed by arrow stimuli influences the perception of duration in older children. Both 8 and 10 year olds judged the duration of leftward arrows to be shorter than that of rightward arrows. We also showed for the first time that as long as position is manipulated in a non-symbolic way by the visual eccentricity of the stimuli, then even 5–6 year olds’ perception of duration is influenced by spatial position. These children judged the duration of left-lateralized stimuli to be shorter than that of either right-lateralized or centrally located stimuli. These data are consistent with the use of a mental timeline for stimulus duration from the age of 5 years old, with short duration being represented on the left side of space and long duration on the right. Nevertheless, the way in which left and right were manipulated determined the age at which spatial position influenced duration judgment: physical spatial location influenced duration perception from the age of 5 years old whereas arrow direction influenced it from the age of 8. This age-related dissociation may reflect distinct developmental trajectories of automatic versus voluntary spatial attentional mechanisms and, more generally highlights the importance of accounting for attentional ability when interpreting results of duration judgment tasks.

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“…For instance, when we speak about time, we typically apply spatial concepts (e.g., “She has a bright career ahead of her”; see Núñez and Cooperrider 2013). Also, when we respond faster to present information about the past with the left finger and about future information with the right finger, reflecting a spatial left–right mapping of time (Eikmeier et al 2015). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time takes space: selective effects of multitasking on concurrent spatial processing

et al. 2017

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Many everyday activities require coordination and monitoring of complex relations of future goals and deadlines. Cognitive offloading may provide an efficient strategy for reducing control demands by representing future goals and deadlines as a pattern of spatial relations. We tested the hypothesis that multiple-task monitoring involves time-to-space transformational processes, and that these spatial effects are selective with greater demands on coordinate (metric) than categorical (nonmetric) spatial relation processing. Participants completed a multitasking session in which they monitored four series of deadlines, running on different time scales, while making concurrent coordinate or categorical spatial judgments. We expected and found that multitasking taxes concurrent coordinate, but not categorical, spatial processing. Furthermore, males showed a better multitasking performance than females. These findings provide novel experimental evidence for the hypothesis that efficient multitasking involves metric relational processing.

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How strongly linked are mental time and space along the left–right axis?

Cited by 26 publications

References 32 publications

The Space–Time Congruency Effect: A Meta‐Analysis

The Space–Time Congruency Effect: A Meta‐Analysis

A Mental Timeline for Duration From the Age of 5 Years Old

Time takes space: selective effects of multitasking on concurrent spatial processing

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