Heed the signs: Operation signs have spatial associations
- Mental arithmetic shows systematic spatial biases. The association between numbers and space is well documented, but it is unknown whether arithmetic operation signs also have spatial associations and whether or not they contribute to spatial biases found in arithmetic. Adult participants classified plus and minus signs with left and right button presses under two counterbalanced response rules. Results from two experiments showed that spatially congruent responses (i.e., right-side responses for the plus sign and left-side responses for the minus sign) were responded to faster than spatially incongruent ones (i.e., left-side responses for the plus sign and right-side responses for the minus sign). We also report correlations between this novel operation sign spatial association (OSSA) effect and other spatial biases in number processing. In a control experiment with no explicit processing requirements for the operation signs there were no sign-related spatial biases. Overall, the results suggest that (a) arithmetic operation signsMental arithmetic shows systematic spatial biases. The association between numbers and space is well documented, but it is unknown whether arithmetic operation signs also have spatial associations and whether or not they contribute to spatial biases found in arithmetic. Adult participants classified plus and minus signs with left and right button presses under two counterbalanced response rules. Results from two experiments showed that spatially congruent responses (i.e., right-side responses for the plus sign and left-side responses for the minus sign) were responded to faster than spatially incongruent ones (i.e., left-side responses for the plus sign and right-side responses for the minus sign). We also report correlations between this novel operation sign spatial association (OSSA) effect and other spatial biases in number processing. In a control experiment with no explicit processing requirements for the operation signs there were no sign-related spatial biases. Overall, the results suggest that (a) arithmetic operation signs can evoke spatial associations (OSSA), (b) experience with arithmetic operations probably underlies the OSSA, and (c) the OSSA only partially contributes to spatial biases in arithmetic.…
| Author details: | Michal Pinhas, Samuel ShakiORCiD, Martin H. FischerORCiDGND |
|---|---|
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2014.892516 |
| ISSN: | 1747-0218 |
| ISSN: | 1747-0226 |
| Pubmed ID: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24547790 |
| Title of parent work (English): | The quarterly journal of experimental psychology |
| Publisher: | Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group |
| Place of publishing: | Abingdon |
| Publication type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Year of first publication: | 2014 |
| Publication year: | 2014 |
| Release date: | 2017/03/27 |
| Tag: | Mental arithmetic; Mental number line; Operational momentum; Pointing; Spatial-numerical association of response codes effect |
| Volume: | 67 |
| Issue: | 8 |
| Number of pages: | 14 |
| First page: | 1527 |
| Last Page: | 1540 |
| Funding institution: | of Dundee [SG 46947] |
| Organizational units: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften / Department Psychologie |
| Peer review: | Referiert |
| Institution name at the time of the publication: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Psychologie |
