The perception of temporal order along the mental number line.

Schwarz, Wolfgang; Eiselt, Anne-Kathrin

doi:10.1037/a0013703

Cited by 27 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…On the face of it, our findings could be seen as being more compatible with an interaction at an early representational rather than at a late decision stage (e.g., Risko et al, 2013;Schwarz & Heinze, 1998;Szűcs & Soltész, 2007); however, it should be stressed that SDT models per se are mute with respect to chronometric aspects. More generally, our findings clearly fit in with, and further extend, previous results from a variety of perceptual tasks (e.g., Casarotti, Michielin, Zorzi, & Umiltà, 2007;Corbett, Oriet, & Rensink, 2006;Fischer, Castel, Dodd, & Pratt, 2003;Godwin, Hout, & Menneer, 2014;Nieder, 2005;Schwarz & Eiselt, 2009 suggesting that symbolic numerical meaning is extracted at an early processing stage from visual displays containing digits, and under favorable (i.e., congruent) conditions, may enhance perceptual sensitivity, even in basic psychophysical tasks involving judgments about physical size.…”

Section: >5) and Physical Size (S Vs L)supporting

confidence: 77%

“…This claim is consistent with the general theory of magnitude (ATOM) positing that there is a common cortical metric underlying several quantity-related attributes, such as space, time, and number (e.g., Bonato, Zorzi, & Umiltà, 2012;Cohen Kadosh, Lammertyn, & Izard, 2008;Eiselt & Nieder, 2013;Henik, Leibovich, Naparstek, Diesendruck, & Rubinsten, 2012;Leon & Shadlen, 2003;Schwarz & Eiselt, 2009;Walsh, 2003;Winter, Marghetis, & Matlock, 2015). For example, in their coalescence diffusion model Schwarz and Ischebeck (2003) proposed that information from taskirrelevant attributes (e.g., numerical magnitude, and physical font size S vs. L) often cannot be completely ignored.…”

Section: >5) and Physical Size (S Vs L)supporting

confidence: 62%

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Exploring the origin of the number-size congruency effect: Sensitivity or response bias?

Reike

Schwarz

2017

Atten Percept Psychophys

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Physical size modulates the efficiency of digit comparison, depending on whether the relation of numerical magnitude and physical size is congruent or incongruent (Besner & Coltheart, Neuropsychologia, 17, 467-472, 1979), the number-size congruency effect (NSCE). In addition, Henik and Tzelgov (Memory & Cognition, 10, 389-395, 1982) first reported an NSCE for the reverse task of comparing the physical size of digits such that the numerical magnitude of digits modulated the time required to compare their physical sizes. Does the NSCE in physical comparisons simply reflect a number-mediated bias mechanism related to making decisions and selecting responses about the digit's sizes? Alternatively, or in addition, the NSCE might indicate a true increase in the ability to discriminate small and large font sizes when these sizes are congruent with the digit's symbolic numerical meaning, over and above response bias effects. We present a new research design that permits us to apply signal detection theory to a task that required observers to judge the physical size of digits. Our results clearly demonstrate that the NSCE cannot be reduced to mere response bias effects, and that genuine sensitivity gains for congruent number-size pairings contribute to the NSCE. Numbers and numerical information play a central role in how humans represent, communicate, and respond to quantity-related aspects of their environments. Correspondingly, a considerable amount of research has addressed many cognitive, neuronal, developmental, and clinical aspects of how we process quantitative information (for general review, see Dehaene, 2011;Nieder, 2005).According to one influential model of number comparison (Moyer & Landauer, 1967; for recent formulations and review, see Ditz & Nieder, 2016;Ganor-Stern & Goldman, 2015;Gilmore, Attridge, & Inglis, 2011;Inglis & Gilmore, 2014; Maloney, Risko, Presto, Ansari, & Fugelsang, 2010;Nuerk, Moeller, Klein, Willmes, & Fischer, 2011;Reike & Schwarz, 2016;Sigman & Dehaene, 2005), digits are automatically converted into percept-like analog representations that are then in turn compared with each other, much like sensory representations of physical attributes such as brightness or orientation. One line of evidence consistent with this model derives from conflict paradigms in which the to-becompared digits are presented with varying physical (i.e., font) sizes. According to the analog representation model, the digit's (task-irrelevant) physical size should modulate the efficiency of the comparison process, depending on whether the relation of numerical magnitude and physical size is congruent (as in 8 -2) or incongruent (e.g., 8 -2). This number-size congruency effect (NSCE) has indeed first been reported by Besner and Coltheart (1979), and has since then often been confirmed and extended (e.g., Algom,

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Section: >5) and Physical Size (S Vs L)supporting

confidence: 77%

Section: >5) and Physical Size (S Vs L)supporting

confidence: 62%

Exploring the origin of the number-size congruency effect: Sensitivity or response bias?

Reike

Schwarz

2017

Atten Percept Psychophys

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“…Previous studies have shown that, upon presentation of two tones with different durations, responses were more accurate when the first tone was shorter or the second tone was longer (Conson et al, 2008) as if a preference for increasing temporal intervals would exist (see Lindemann et al, 2008, for a similar finding in the numerical domain). Nicholls et al (2011) questioned the results of Schwarz and Eiselt (2009) and suggested that some associations between dimensions such as size, duration, and number can be in fact due to response biases rather than to the presence of common cognitive processes. Sometimes effects apparently due to a modulation upon perception are in fact due to response biases and/or task-specific methodological biases, rather than to the true nature of number-time interactions (Grassi and Bonato, 2012).…”

Section: Interactions Between Numbers and Timementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This category encompasses studies that reported number-time interactions in the form of an association of small magnitudes with "before" responses and of large magnitudes with "after" responses (Müller and Schwarz, 2008;Schwarz and Eiselt, 2009). Schwarz and Eiselt (2009) used a temporal order judgement task in which the stimuli that were presented on the screen with variable asynchrony were pairs of numbers (one on the left and one on the right of fixation).…”

Section: Interactions Between Numbers and Timementioning

confidence: 99%

When time is space: Evidence for a mental time line

Bonato

Zorzi

Umiltà

2012

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

300

285

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This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues.Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. Author's personal copy Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 36 (2012) 2257-2273 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirectNeuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews For instance, time-space interactions have been described as a strong preference to associate the past with the left space and the future with the right space. Here we review the growing evidence of interactions between time and space processing, systematized according to the type of interaction being investigated. We present the empirical findings supporting the possibility that humans represent the subjective time flow on a spatially oriented "mental time line" that is accessed through spatial attention mechanisms. The heterogeneous time-space interactions are then compared with the number-space interactions described in the numerical cognition literature. An alternative hypothesis, which maintains a common system for magnitude processing, including time, space, and number, is also discussed. Finally, we extend the discussion to the more general issue of how the representation of these concepts might be grounded into the cortical circuits that support spatial attention and sensorimotor transformations.

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“…For temporal duration judgements, Oliveri et al (2008) demonstrated that durations in which a relatively large digit (e.g., 9) was presented were judged to last longer than those in which a smaller digit (e.g., 1) was presented. A link between number and time has also been observed for temporal order judgements by Schwarz and Eiselt (2009). In their first experiment, digits were presented to the left and right of a central fixation point.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of response type to the relationship between temporal order and numerical magnitude

Nicholls

Lew

Loetscher

et al. 2011

Atten Percept Psychophys

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Time, number, and space may be represented in the brain by a common set of cognitive/neural mechanisms. In support of this conjecture, Schwarz and Eiselt (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35, 989-1004Performance, 35, 989- , 2009 found that numerically smaller digits were perceived to occur earlier than larger digits, and they concluded that this difference reflected faster processing of smaller numbers. This difference, however, could have been related to a response bias, whereby participants map responses of "which first" onto the "first" number along the mental number line. In Experiment 1, participants made temporal order judgements between digits presented to the left or to the right. The point of subjective simultaneity was shifted so that the 9 had to be presented before the 2 in order for simultaneity to be perceived. This difference could reflect either faster processing of the 2 or a response bias. Experiments 2a and 2b eliminated response biases by using simultaneity judgements, which have no logical stimulus mapping. Both of the latter experiments established that the 2 was not processed faster than the 9. Although the present results relate specifically to numerical magnitude and temporal order associations, they also have broader implications. Other studies have reported associations between dimensions such as size, duration, and number and have attributed these to parietal mechanisms. Such associations, however, may also be an artefact of response biases.

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The perception of temporal order along the mental number line.

Cited by 27 publications

References 68 publications

Exploring the origin of the number-size congruency effect: Sensitivity or response bias?

Exploring the origin of the number-size congruency effect: Sensitivity or response bias?

When time is space: Evidence for a mental time line

The importance of response type to the relationship between temporal order and numerical magnitude

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