TY  - JOUR
A1  - Shaki, Samuel
A1  - Fischer, Martin H.
T1  - Systematic spatial distortion of quantitative estimates
JF  - Psychological research
N2  - Magnitude estimation has been studied since the beginnings of scientific psychology and constitutes a fundamental aspect of human behavior. Yet, it has apparently never been noticed that estimates depend on the spatial arrangement used. We tested 167 adults in three experiments to show that the spatial layout of stimuli and responses systematically distorts number estimation, length production, and weight reproduction performance. The direction of distortion depends on the observer's counting habits, but does not seem to reflect the use of spatially associated number concepts. Our results imply that all quantitative estimates are contaminated by a "spell of space" whenever stimuli or responses are spatially distributed.
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-020-01390-5
SN  - 0340-0727
SN  - 1430-2772
VL  - 85
IS  - 6
SP  - 2177
EP  - 2185
PB  - Springer
CY  - Heidelberg
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Shaki, Samuel
A1  - Fischer, Martin H.
T1  - Nothing to dance about: unclear evidence for symbolic representations and numerical competence in honeybees
BT  - a comment on: symbolic representation of numerosity by honeybees (Apis mellifera): matching characters to small quantities
JF  - Proceedings of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.2840
SN  - 0962-8452
SN  - 1471-2954
VL  - 287
IS  - 1925
PB  - Royal Society
CY  - London
ER  - 
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  - 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  - JOUR
A1  - Felisatti, Arianna
A1  - Aagten-Murphy, David
A1  - Laubrock, Jochen
A1  - Shaki, Samuel
A1  - Fischer, Martin H.
T1  - The brain’s asymmetric frequency tuning
BT  - asymmetric behavior originates from asymmetric perception
JF  - Symmetry / Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
N2  - To construct a coherent multi-modal percept, vertebrate brains extract low-level features (such as spatial and temporal frequencies) from incoming sensory signals. However, because frequency processing is lateralized with the right hemisphere favouring low frequencies while the left favours higher frequencies, this introduces asymmetries between the hemispheres. Here, we describe how this lateralization shapes the development of several cognitive domains, ranging from visuo-spatial and numerical cognition to language, social cognition, and even aesthetic appreciation, and leads to the emergence of asymmetries in behaviour. We discuss the neuropsychological and educational implications of these emergent asymmetries and suggest future research approaches.
KW  - asymmetry
KW  - global
KW  - local
KW  - spatial frequencies
KW  - temporal frequencies
KW  - embodied cognition
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3390/sym12122083
SN  - 2073-8994
VL  - 12
IS  - 12
PB  - MDPI
CY  - Basel
ER  -