TY - JOUR A1 - Wiemers, Michael A1 - Bekkering, Harold A1 - Lindemann, Oliver T1 - Is more always up? BT - evidence for a preference of hand-based associations over vertical number mappings JF - Journal of cognitive psychology N2 - It has been argued that the association of numbers and vertical space plays a fundamental role for the understanding of numerical concepts. However, convincing evidence for an association of numbers and vertical bimanual responses is still lacking. The present study tests the vertical Spatio-Numerical-Association-of-Response-Codes (SNARC) effect in a number classification task by comparing anatomical hand-based and spatial associations. A mixed effects model of linear spatial-numerical associations revealed no evidence for a vertical but clear support for an anatomical SNARC effect. Only if the task requirements prevented participants from using a number-hand association due to frequently alternating hand-to-button assignments, numbers were associated with the vertical dimension. Taken together, the present findings question the importance of vertical associations for the conceptual understanding of numerical magnitude as hypothesised by some embodied approaches to number cognition and suggest a preference for ego-over geocentric reference frames for the mapping of numbers onto space. KW - SNARC effect KW - embodied numerosity KW - numerical cognition Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2017.1302451 SN - 2044-5911 SN - 2044-592X VL - 29 IS - 5 SP - 642 EP - 652 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tschentscher, Nadja A1 - Hauk, Olaf A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Pulvermüller, Friedemann T1 - You can count on the motor cortex finger counting habits modulate motor cortex activation evoked by numbers JF - NeuroImage : a journal of brain function N2 - The embodied cognition framework suggests that neural systems for perception and action are engaged during higher cognitive processes. In an event-related fMRI study, we tested this claim for the abstract domain of numerical symbol processing: is the human cortical motor system part of the representation of numbers, and is organization of numerical knowledge influenced by individual finger counting habits? Developmental studies suggest a link between numerals and finger counting habits due to the acquisition of numerical skills through finger counting in childhood. In the present study, digits 1 to 9 and the corresponding number words were presented visually to adults with different finger counting habits, i.e. left- and right-starters who reported that they usually start counting small numbers with their left and right hand, respectively. Despite the absence of overt hand movements, the hemisphere contralateral to the hand used for counting small numbers was activated when small numbers were presented. The correspondence between finger counting habits and hemispheric motor activation is consistent with an intrinsic functional link between finger counting and number processing. KW - Embodied cognition KW - Numerical cognaion KW - Finger counting habits KW - SNARC effect Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.11.037 SN - 1053-8119 VL - 59 IS - 4 SP - 3139 EP - 3148 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shaki, Samuel A1 - Fischer, Martin H. T1 - Deconstructing spatial-numerical associations JF - Cognition : international journal of cognitive science N2 - Spatial-numerical associations (SNAs) have been studied extensively in the past two decades, always requiring either explicit magnitude processing or explicit spatial-directional processing. This means that the typical finding of an association of small numbers with left or bottom space and of larger numbers with right or top space could be due to these requirements and not the conceptual representation of numbers. The present study compares explicit and implicit magnitude processing in an implicit spatial-directional task and identifies SNAs as artefacts of either explicit magnitude processing or explicit spatial-directional processing; they do not reveal spatial conceptual links. This finding requires revision of current accounts of the relationship between numbers and space. KW - Go/no-go task KW - Implicit association task KW - Numerical cognition KW - SNARC effect Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.02.022 SN - 0010-0277 SN - 1873-7838 VL - 175 SP - 109 EP - 113 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ninaus, Manuel A1 - Moeller, Korbinian A1 - Kaufmann, Liane A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Nuerk, Hans-Christoph A1 - Wood, Guilherme T1 - Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying Directional and Non-directional Spatial-Numerical Associations across the Lifespan JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - There is accumulating evidence suggesting an association of numbers with physical space. However, the origin of such spatial-numerical associations (SNAs) is still debated. In the present study we investigated the development of two SNAs in a cross-sectional study involving children, young and middle-aged adults as well as the elderly: (1) the SNARC (spatial-numerical association of response codes) effect, reflecting a directional SNA; and (2) the numerical bisection bias in a line bisection task with numerical flankers. Results revealed a consistent SNARC effect in all age groups that continuously increased with age. In contrast, a numerical bisection bias was only observed for children and elderly participants, implying an U-shaped distribution of this bias across age groups. Additionally, individual SNARC effects and numerical bisection biases did not correlate significantly. We argue that the SNARC effect seems to be influenced by longer-lasting experiences of cultural constraints such as reading and writing direction and may thus reflect embodied representations. Contrarily, the numerical bisection bias may originate from insufficient inhibition of the semantic influence of irrelevant numerical flankers, which should be more pronounced in children and elderly people due to development and decline of cognitive control, respectively. As there is an ongoing debate on the origins of SNAs in general and the SNARC effect in particular, the present results are discussed in light of these differing accounts in an integrative approach. However, taken together, the present pattern of results suggests that different cognitive mechanisms underlie the SNARC effect and the numerical bisection bias. KW - SNARC effect KW - spatial-numerical bias KW - line bisection task KW - cognitive development KW - aging Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01421 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 8 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Shaki, Samuel T1 - Implicit Spatial-Numerical Associations: Negative Numbers and the Role of Counting Direction JF - Journal of experimental psychology : Human perception and performance N2 - 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. KW - negative numbers KW - counting direction KW - embodied cognition KW - IAT KW - SNARC effect Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000369 SN - 0096-1523 SN - 1939-1277 VL - 43 SP - 639 EP - 643 PB - American Psychological Association CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Miklashevsky, Alex A. A1 - Shaki, Samuel T1 - Commentary : The Developmental Trajectory of the Operational Momentum Effect JF - Frontiers in Psychology KW - embodied cognition KW - operational momentum KW - SNARC effect KW - mental arithmetic KW - numerical cognition Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02259 SN - 1664-1078 N1 - A Commentary on The Developmental Trajectory of the Operational Momentum Effect by Pinheiro-Chagas, P., Didino, D., Haase, V. G., Wood, G., and Knops, A. (2018). Front. Psychol. 9:1062 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01062 VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Hartmann, Matthias T1 - Pushing forward in embodied cognition: may we mouse the mathematical mind? JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - 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. KW - mousetracking KW - numerical cognition KW - SNARC effect KW - trajectories KW - on-line processing Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01315 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 5 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fischer, Martin H. T1 - A hierarchical view of grounded, embodied, and situated numerical cognition JF - Cognitive processing : international quarterly of cognitive science N2 - 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. KW - Embodied cognition KW - Grounded cognition KW - Numerical cognition KW - SNARC effect Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0477-5 SN - 1612-4782 VL - 13 SP - S161 EP - S164 PB - Springer CY - Heidelberg 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 - D'Ascenzo, Stefania A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Shaki, Samuel A1 - Lugli, Luisa T1 - Number to me, space to you BT - joint representation of spatial-numerical associations JF - Psychonomic bulletin & review : a journal of the Psychonomic Society N2 - 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. KW - Social co-representation KW - Conceptual congruency effect KW - Numerical KW - cognition KW - SNARC effect Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-021-02013-9 SN - 1069-9384 SN - 1531-5320 VL - 29 IS - 2 SP - 485 EP - 491 PB - Springer CY - New York ER -