Response–effect compatibility of finger–numeral configurations in arithmetical context

Abstract

The present study aimed at testing, by means of a response-effect compatibility paradigm, whether finger-numeral representations derived from finger counting may underlie simple arithmetic problem solving in adults. Participants were asked to provide a verbal response to simple additions, which triggered the presentation of the correct (Experiment 1) or an incorrect (Experiment 2) response, displayed either as a configuration of fingers or as a series of rods. Answers were faster with finger configurations than with rods, and only when the finger configuration showed the correct result. These findings support the idea that, even in adults, simple arithmetic operations are still unconsciously underlain by finger-numeral representations.

The role of vision in the development of finger–number interactions: Finger-counting and finger-montring in blind children

“…As suggested by previous research (Raz, Striem, Pundak, Orlov, & Zohary, 2007;Röder, Rösler, & Neville, 2001;Siegel & Ryan, 1989;Stankov & Spilsbury, 1978) and by their better span scores at the pseudo-word repetition task (see ''Working memory'' section above), it is possible that blind children rely much more on their auditory working memory than sighted children to manipulate numbers (see Cornoldi, Tinti, Mammarella, Re, & Varotto, 2009, for similar results with adults in a mental imagery task). In the same way as traces of the finger-counting behavior have been found in sighted adults' numerical cognition (Andres et al, 2007;Badets et al, 2010;Di Luca et al, 2006;Domahs et al, 2010), traces of the working memory use have been found in blind adults' numerical cognition. Indeed, although the behavioral data of a recent electroencephalogram (EEG) study demonstrated that blind and sighted adults represent numbers through a similar spatial code, different neurophysiological correlates have been found to underlie number manipulation in the two groups (Sallilas, Granà, El-Yagoubi, & Semenza, 2009).…”

“…Fourth, two recent studies demonstrated that children (Noël, 2005) and adults named numerical finger configurations faster when these configurations conformed to their own finger-counting habit than when they did not. Canonical finger configurations were also reported to be reactivated when adults need to retrieve the result of simple arithmetic operations (Badets, Pesenti, & Olivier, 2010). Finally, Di Luca, Granà, Semenza, Seron, and Pesenti (2006) showed that Italian participants identify Arabic digits from 1 to 10 faster and more accurately when the finger used to press the response button corresponds to the canonical Italian finger-digit mapping (i.e., from the right thumb to the right little finger for numbers 1-5 and from the left thumb to the left little finger for numbers 6-10).…”

Anatomically ordered tapping interferes more with one-digit addition than two-digit addition: a dual-task fMRI study

“…Multiple studies have shown that finger counting habits influence number processing performance (Domahs et al 2010;Newman and Soylu 2014) and interact with visuospatial representations of numbers (Fischer 2008). Furthermore, there is evidence for adults' unconscious encoding of small numbers in the form of finger numeral representations (Badets et al 2010) and finger counting patterns affecting arithmetic performance based on a sub-base-five effect (Klein et al 2011). In multiple studies, it has been shown that finger sense (Fayol et al 1998;Noel 2005) and fine motor ability (Luo et al 2007) predict mathematical performance in young children.…”

A Neurocognitive Assessment of a Patient with Body Integrity Identity Disorder

“…The second level of perspective for the relative preservation of arithmetic in Mr A can be found in light of the literature on embodied cognition, given the research which has specifically investigated numeracy and arithmetic with regards to the representation and use of fingers [30,[33][34][35]. By contrast, Mr A's undesired body part was a portion of his left leg.…”