@article{D'AscenzoFischerShakietal.2022, author = {D'Ascenzo, Stefania and Fischer, Martin H. and Shaki, Samuel and Lugli, Luisa}, title = {Number to me, space to you}, series = {Psychonomic bulletin \& review : a journal of the Psychonomic Society}, volume = {29}, journal = {Psychonomic bulletin \& review : a journal of the Psychonomic Society}, number = {2}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {1069-9384}, doi = {10.3758/s13423-021-02013-9}, pages = {485 -- 491}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Recent work has shown that number concepts activate both spatial and magnitude representations. According to the social co-representation literature which has shown that participants typically represent task components assigned to others together with their own, we asked whether explicit magnitude meaning and explicit spatial coding must be present in a single mind, or can be distributed across two minds, to generate a spatial-numerical congruency effect. In a shared go/no-go task that eliminated peripheral spatial codes, we assigned explicit magnitude processing to participants and spatial processing to either human or non-human co-agents. The spatial-numerical congruency effect emerged only with human co-agents. We demonstrate an inter-personal level of conceptual congruency between space and number that arises from a shared conceptual representation not contaminated by peripheral spatial codes. Theoretical implications of this finding for numerical cognition are discussed.}, language = {en} } @article{FelisattiLaubrockShakietal.2020, author = {Felisatti, Arianna and Laubrock, Jochen and Shaki, Samuel and Fischer, Martin H.}, title = {A biological foundation for spatial-numerical associations}, series = {Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences}, volume = {1477}, journal = {Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences}, number = {1}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0077-8923}, doi = {10.1111/nyas.14418}, pages = {44 -- 53}, year = {2020}, abstract = {"Left" and "right" coordinates control our spatial behavior and even influence abstract thoughts. For number concepts, horizontal spatial-numerical associations (SNAs) have been widely documented: we associate few with left and many with right. Importantly, increments are universally coded on the right side even in preverbal humans and nonhuman animals, thus questioning the fundamental role of directional cultural habits, such as reading or finger counting. Here, we propose a biological, nonnumerical mechanism for the origin of SNAs on the basis of asymmetric tuning of animal brains for different spatial frequencies (SFs). The resulting selective visual processing predicts both universal SNAs and their context-dependence. We support our proposal by analyzing the stimuli used to document SNAs in newborns for their SF content. As predicted, the SFs contained in visual patterns with few versus many elements preferentially engage right versus left brain hemispheres, respectively, thus predicting left-versus rightward behavioral biases. Our "brain's asymmetric frequency tuning" hypothesis explains the perceptual origin of horizontal SNAs for nonsymbolic visual numerosities and might be extensible to the auditory domain.}, language = {en} } @article{Fischer2012, author = {Fischer, Martin H.}, title = {A hierarchical view of grounded, embodied, and situated numerical cognition}, series = {Cognitive processing : international quarterly of cognitive science}, volume = {13}, journal = {Cognitive processing : international quarterly of cognitive science}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Heidelberg}, issn = {1612-4782}, doi = {10.1007/s10339-012-0477-5}, pages = {S161 -- S164}, year = {2012}, abstract = {There is much recent interest in the idea that we represent our knowledge together with the sensory and motor features that were activated during its acquisition. This paper reviews the evidence for such "embodiment" in the domain of numerical cognition, a traditional stronghold of abstract theories of knowledge representation. The focus is on spatial-numerical associations, such as the SNARC effect (small numbers are associated with left space, larger numbers with right space). Using empirical evidence from behavioral research, I first describe sensory and motor biases induced by SNARC, thus identifying numbers as embodied concepts. Next, I propose a hierarchical relationship between grounded, embodied, and situated aspects of number knowledge. This hierarchical conceptualization helps to understand the variety of SNARC-related findings and yields testable predictions about numerical cognition. I report several such tests, ranging from cross-cultural comparisons of horizontal and vertical SNARC effects (Shaki and Fischer in J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 38(3): 804-809, 2012) to motor cortical activation studies in adults with left- and right-hand counting preferences (Tschentscher et al. in NeuroImage 59: 3139-3148, 2012). It is concluded that the diagnostic features for each level of the proposed hierarchical knowledge representation, together with the spatial associations of numbers, make the domain of numerical knowledge an ideal testing ground for embodied cognition research.}, language = {en} } @article{FischerHartmann2014, author = {Fischer, Martin H. and Hartmann, Matthias}, title = {Pushing forward in embodied cognition: may we mouse the mathematical mind?}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {5}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01315}, pages = {4}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Freely available software has popularized "mousetracking" to study cognitive processing; this involves the on-line recording of cursor positions while participants move a computer mouse to indicate their choice. Movement trajectories of the cursor can then be reconstructed off-line to assess the efficiency of responding in time and across space. Here we focus on the process of selecting among alternative numerical responses. Several studies have recently measured the mathematical mind with cursor movements while people decided about number magnitude or parity, computed sums or differences, or simply located numbers on a number line. After some general methodological considerations about mouse tracking we discuss several conceptual concerns that become particularly evident when "mousing" the mathematical mind.}, language = {en} } @unpublished{FischerKnops2014, author = {Fischer, Martin H. and Knops, Andre}, title = {Attentional cueing in numerical cognition}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {5}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01381}, pages = {3}, year = {2014}, language = {en} } @article{FischerMiklashevskyShaki2018, author = {Fischer, Martin H. and Miklashevsky, Alex A. and Shaki, Samuel}, title = {Commentary : The Developmental Trajectory of the Operational Momentum Effect}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02259}, pages = {3}, year = {2018}, language = {en} } @misc{FischerMiklashevskyShaki2019, author = {Fischer, Martin H. and Miklashevsky, Alex A. and Shaki, Samuel}, title = {Commentary : The Developmental Trajectory of the Operational Momentum Effect}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {502}, issn = {1866-8364}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42316}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-423169}, pages = {3}, year = {2019}, language = {en} } @misc{FischerShaki2018, author = {Fischer, Martin H. and Shaki, Samuel}, title = {Number concepts: abstract and embodied}, series = {Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences}, volume = {373}, journal = {Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences}, number = {1752}, publisher = {Royal Society}, address = {London}, issn = {0962-8436}, doi = {10.1098/rstb.2017.0125}, pages = {8}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Numerical knowledge, including number concepts and arithmetic procedures, seems to be a clear-cut case for abstract symbol manipulation. Yet, evidence from perceptual and motor behaviour reveals that natural number knowledge and simple arithmetic also remain closely associated with modal experiences. Following a review of behavioural, animal and neuroscience studies of number processing, we propose a revised understanding of psychological number concepts as grounded in physical constraints, embodied in experience and situated through task-specific intentions. The idea that number concepts occupy a range of positions on the continuum between abstract and modal conceptual knowledge also accounts for systematic heuristics and biases in mental arithmetic, thus inviting psycho-logical approaches to the study of the mathematical mind.}, language = {en} } @article{FischerShaki2017, author = {Fischer, Martin H. and Shaki, Samuel}, title = {Implicit Spatial-Numerical Associations: Negative Numbers and the Role of Counting Direction}, series = {Journal of experimental psychology : Human perception and performance}, volume = {43}, journal = {Journal of experimental psychology : Human perception and performance}, publisher = {American Psychological Association}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0096-1523}, doi = {10.1037/xhp0000369}, pages = {639 -- 643}, year = {2017}, abstract = {It has been debated whether negative number concepts are cognitively represented on the same mental number line as positive number concepts. The present study reviews this debate and identifies limitations of previous studies. A method with nonspatial stimuli and responses is applied to overcome these limitations and to document a systematic implicit association of negative numbers with left space, thus indicating a leftward extension of the mental number line. Importantly, this result only held for left-to-right counting adults. Implications for the experiential basis of abstract conceptual knowledge are discussed.}, language = {en} } @misc{MyachykovEllisCangelosietal.2016, author = {Myachykov, Andriy and Ellis, Rob and Cangelosi, Angelo and Fischer, Martin H.}, title = {Ocular drift along the mental number line}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {553}, issn = {1866-8364}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-43048}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-430483}, pages = {379 -- 388}, year = {2016}, abstract = {We examined the spontaneous association between numbers and space by documenting attention deployment and the time course of associated spatial-numerical mapping with and without overt oculomotor responses. In Experiment 1, participants maintained central fixation while listening to number names. In Experiment 2, they made horizontal target-direct saccades following auditory number presentation. In both experiments, we continuously measured spontaneous ocular drift in horizontal space during and after number presentation. Experiment 2 also measured visual-probe-directed saccades following number presentation. Reliable ocular drift congruent with a horizontal mental number line emerged during and after number presentation in both experiments. Our results provide new evidence for the implicit and automatic nature of the oculomotor resonance effect associated with the horizontal spatial-numerical mapping mechanism.}, language = {en} }