TY - JOUR A1 - Felisatti, Arianna A1 - Laubrock, Jochen A1 - Shaki, Samuel A1 - Fischer, Martin H. T1 - A biological foundation for spatial–numerical associations BT - the brain's asymmetric frequency tuning JF - Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences N2 - "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. KW - hemispheric asymmetry KW - numerical cognition KW - SNARC effect KW - spatial KW - frequency tuning KW - spatial-numerical associations KW - spatial vision Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14418 SN - 0077-8923 SN - 1749-6632 VL - 1477 IS - 1 SP - 44 EP - 53 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wiemers, Michael A1 - Bekkering, Harold A1 - Lindemann, Oliver T1 - Two attributes of number meaning BT - numerical associations with visual space and size exist in parallel JF - Experimental Psychology N2 - Many studies demonstrated interactions between number processing and either spatial codes (effects of spatial-numerical associations) or visual size-related codes (size-congruity effect). However, the interrelatedness of these two number couplings is still unclear. The present study examines the simultaneous occurrence of space- and size-numerical congruency effects and their interactions both within and across trials, in a magnitude judgment task physically small or large digits were presented left or right from screen center. The reaction times analysis revealed that space- and size-congruency effects coexisted in parallel and combined additively. Moreover, a selective sequential modulation of the two congruency effects was found. The size-congruency effect was reduced after size incongruent trials. The space-congruency effect, however, was only affected by the previous space congruency. The observed independence of spatial-numerical and within magnitude associations is interpreted as evidence that the two couplings reflect Different attributes of numerical meaning possibly related to orginality and cardinality. KW - Gratton effect KW - shared magnitude representation KW - size-congruity effect KW - spatial-numerical associations KW - number processing Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000366 SN - 1618-3169 SN - 2190-5142 VL - 64 IS - 4 SP - 253 EP - 261 PB - Hogrefe CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Hendrikje A1 - Felisatti, Arianna A1 - Aster, Michael von A1 - Wilbert, Jürgen A1 - Moers, Arpad von A1 - Fischer, Martin H. T1 - Neuromuscular diseases affect number representation and processing BT - An exploratory study JF - Frontiers in psychology / Frontiers Research Foundation N2 - Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) both are rare genetic neuromuscular diseases with progressive loss of motor ability. The neuromotor developmental course of those diseases is well documented. In contrast, there is only little evidence about characteristics of general and specific cognitive development. In both conditions the final motor outcome is characterized by an inability to move autonomously: children with SMA never accomplish independent motoric exploration of their environment, while children with DMD do but later lose this ability again. These profound differences in developmental pathways might affect cognitive development of SMA vs. DMD children, as cognition is shaped by individual motor experiences. DMD patients show impaired executive functions, working memory, and verbal IQ, whereas only motor ability seems to be impaired in SMA. Advanced cognitive capacity in SMA may serve as a compensatory mechanism for achieving in education, career progression, and social satisfaction. This study aimed to relate differences in basic numerical concepts and arithmetic achievement in SMA and DMD patients to differences in their motor development and resulting sensorimotor and environmental experiences. Horizontal and vertical spatial-numerical associations were explored in SMA/DMD children ranging between 6 and 12 years through the random number generation task. Furthermore, arithmetic skills as well as general cognitive ability were assessed. Groups differed in spatial number processing as well as in arithmetic and domain-general cognitive functions. Children with SMA showed no horizontal and even reversed vertical spatial-numerical associations. Children with DMD on the other hand revealed patterns in spatial numerical associations comparable to healthy developing children. From the embodied Cognition perspective, early sensorimotor experience does play a role in development of mental number representations. However, it remains open whether and how this becomes relevant for the acquisition of higher order cognitive and arithmetic skills. KW - spatial-numerical associations KW - numerical processing KW - mathematics KW - child development KW - embodied cognition KW - neuromuscular disease KW - spinal muscular atrophy KW - Duchenne muscular dystrophy Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.697881 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 12 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - GEN A1 - Schmidt, Hendrikje A1 - Felisatti, Arianna A1 - Aster, Michael von A1 - Wilbert, Jürgen A1 - Moers, Arpad von A1 - Fischer, Martin H. T1 - Neuromuscular Diseases Affect Number Representation and Processing BT - An Exploratory Study T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) both are rare genetic neuromuscular diseases with progressive loss of motor ability. The neuromotor developmental course of those diseases is well documented. In contrast, there is only little evidence about characteristics of general and specific cognitive development. In both conditions the final motor outcome is characterized by an inability to move autonomously: children with SMA never accomplish independent motoric exploration of their environment, while children with DMD do but later lose this ability again. These profound differences in developmental pathways might affect cognitive development of SMA vs. DMD children, as cognition is shaped by individual motor experiences. DMD patients show impaired executive functions, working memory, and verbal IQ, whereas only motor ability seems to be impaired in SMA. Advanced cognitive capacity in SMA may serve as a compensatory mechanism for achieving in education, career progression, and social satisfaction. This study aimed to relate differences in basic numerical concepts and arithmetic achievement in SMA and DMD patients to differences in their motor development and resulting sensorimotor and environmental experiences. Horizontal and vertical spatial-numerical associations were explored in SMA/DMD children ranging between 6 and 12 years through the random number generation task. Furthermore, arithmetic skills as well as general cognitive ability were assessed. Groups differed in spatial number processing as well as in arithmetic and domain-general cognitive functions. Children with SMA showed no horizontal and even reversed vertical spatial-numerical associations. Children with DMD on the other hand revealed patterns in spatial numerical associations comparable to healthy developing children. From the embodied Cognition perspective, early sensorimotor experience does play a role in development of mental number representations. However, it remains open whether and how this becomes relevant for the acquisition of higher order cognitive and arithmetic skills. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 718 KW - spatial-numerical associations KW - numerical processing KW - mathematics KW - child development KW - embodied cognition KW - neuromuscular disease KW - spinal muscular atrophy KW - Duchenne muscular dystrophy Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-522312 SN - 1866-8364 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Felisatti, Arianna A1 - Laubrock, Jochen A1 - Shaki, Samuel A1 - Fischer, Martin H. T1 - Commentary BT - A mental number line in human newborns T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 620 KW - spatial-numerical associations KW - SNARC KW - mental number line (MNL) KW - spatial frequency (SF) KW - temporal frequency KW - hemispheric asymmetry KW - newborns KW - embodied cognition Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-460413 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 620 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Felisatti, Arianna A1 - Laubrock, Jochen A1 - Shaki, Samuel A1 - Fischer, Martin H. T1 - Commentary BT - A mental number line in human newborns JF - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience KW - spatial-numerical associations KW - SNARC KW - mental number line (MNL) KW - spatial frequency (SF) KW - temporal frequency KW - hemispheric asymmetry KW - newborns KW - embodied cognition Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2020.00099 SN - 1662-5161 VL - 14 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - GEN A1 - Wiemers, Michael A1 - Bekkering, Harold A1 - Lindemann, Oliver T1 - Two attributes of number meaning BT - numerical associations with visual space and size exist in parallel T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Many studies demonstrated interactions between number processing and either spatial codes (effects of spatial-numerical associations) or visual size-related codes (size-congruity effect). However, the interrelatedness of these two number couplings is still unclear. The present study examines the simultaneous occurrence of space- and size-numerical congruency effects and their interactions both within and across trials, in a magnitude judgment task physically small or large digits were presented left or right from screen center. The reaction times analysis revealed that space- and size-congruency effects coexisted in parallel and combined additively. Moreover, a selective sequential modulation of the two congruency effects was found. The size-congruency effect was reduced after size incongruent trials. The space-congruency effect, however, was only affected by the previous space congruency. The observed independence of spatial-numerical and within magnitude associations is interpreted as evidence that the two couplings reflect Different attributes of numerical meaning possibly related to orginality and cardinality. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 587 KW - gratton effect KW - shared magnitude representation KW - size-congruity effect KW - spatial-numerical associations KW - number processing Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-433566 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 587 SP - 253 EP - 261 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Sixtus, Elena A1 - Lonnemann, Jan A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Werner, Karsten T1 - Mental Number Representations in 2D Space T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - There is evidence both for mental number representations along a horizontal mental number line with larger numbers to the right of smaller numbers (for Western cultures) and a physically grounded, vertical representation where “more is up.” Few studies have compared effects in the horizontal and vertical dimension and none so far have combined both dimensions within a single paradigm where numerical magnitude was task-irrelevant and none of the dimensions was primed by a response dimension. We now investigated number representations over both dimensions, building on findings that mental representations of numbers and space co-activate each other. In a Go/No-go experiment, participants were auditorily primed with a relatively small or large number and then visually presented with quasi-randomly distributed distractor symbols and one Arabic target number (in Go trials only). Participants pressed a central button whenever they detected the target number and elsewise refrained from responding. Responses were not more efficient when small numbers were presented to the left and large numbers to the right. However, results indicated that large numbers were associated with upper space more strongly than small numbers. This suggests that in two-dimensional space when no response dimension is given, numbers are conceptually associated with vertical, but not horizontal space. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 538 KW - spatial-numerical associations KW - SNARC KW - vertical space KW - horizontal space KW - Go/No-go task Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-424960 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 538 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sixtus, Elena A1 - Lonnemann, Jan A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Werner, Karsten T1 - Mental Number Representations in 2D Space JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - There is evidence both for mental number representations along a horizontal mental number line with larger numbers to the right of smaller numbers (for Western cultures) and a physically grounded, vertical representation where “more is up.” Few studies have compared effects in the horizontal and vertical dimension and none so far have combined both dimensions within a single paradigm where numerical magnitude was task-irrelevant and none of the dimensions was primed by a response dimension. We now investigated number representations over both dimensions, building on findings that mental representations of numbers and space co-activate each other. In a Go/No-go experiment, participants were auditorily primed with a relatively small or large number and then visually presented with quasi-randomly distributed distractor symbols and one Arabic target number (in Go trials only). Participants pressed a central button whenever they detected the target number and elsewise refrained from responding. Responses were not more efficient when small numbers were presented to the left and large numbers to the right. However, results indicated that large numbers were associated with upper space more strongly than small numbers. This suggests that in two-dimensional space when no response dimension is given, numbers are conceptually associated with vertical, but not horizontal space. KW - spatial-numerical associations KW - SNARC KW - vertical space KW - horizontal space KW - Go/No-go task Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00172 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 10 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER -