TY - JOUR A1 - Miklashevsky, Alex A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Lindemann, Oliver T1 - Spatial-numerical associations without a motor response? Grip force says ‘Yes’ JF - Acta Psychologica N2 - In numerical processing, the functional role of Spatial-Numerical Associations (SNAs, such as the association of smaller numbers with left space and larger numbers with right space, the Mental Number Line hypothesis) is debated. Most studies demonstrate SNAs with lateralized responses, and there is little evidence that SNAs appear when no response is required. We recorded passive holding grip forces in no-go trials during number processing. In Experiment 1, participants performed a surface numerical decision task (“Is it a number or a letter?”). In Experiment 2, we used a deeper semantic task (“Is this number larger or smaller than five?”). Despite instruction to keep their grip force constant, participants' spontaneous grip force changed in both experiments: Smaller numbers led to larger force increase in the left than in the right hand in the numerical decision task (500–700 ms after stimulus onset). In the semantic task, smaller numbers again led to larger force increase in the left hand, and larger numbers increased the right-hand holding force. This effect appeared earlier (180 ms) and lasted longer (until 580 ms after stimulus onset). This is the first demonstration of SNAs with passive holding force. Our result suggests that (1) explicit motor response is not a prerequisite for SNAs to appear, and (2) the timing and strength of SNAs are task-dependent. (216 words). KW - SNARC KW - Mental number line KW - Number processing KW - Embodied cognition KW - Grip force KW - Motor system Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103791 SN - 1873-6297 VL - 231 SP - 1 EP - 17 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pinhas, Michal A1 - Shaki, Samuel A1 - Fischer, Martin H. T1 - Addition goes where the big numbers are: evidence for a reversed operational momentum effect JF - Psychonomic bulletin & review : a journal of the Psychonomic Society N2 - Number processing evokes spatial biases, both when dealing with single digits and in more complex mental calculations. Here we investigated whether these two biases have a common origin, by examining their flexibility. Participants pointed to the locations of arithmetic results on a visually presented line with an inverted, right-to-left number arrangement. We found directionally opposite spatial biases for mental arithmetic and for a parity task administered both before and after the arithmetic task. We discuss implications of this dissociation in our results for the task-dependent cognitive representation of numbers. KW - Mental arithmetic KW - Mental number line KW - Operational momentum KW - Pointing KW - SNARC Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0786-z SN - 1069-9384 SN - 1531-5320 VL - 22 IS - 4 SP - 993 EP - 1000 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ronasi, Golnoush A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Zimmermann, Malte T1 - Language and Arithmetic BT - A Failure to Find Cross Cognitive Domain Semantic Priming Between Exception Phrases and Subtraction or Addition JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - We examined cross-domain semantic priming effects between arithmetic and language. We paired subtractions with their linguistic equivalent, exception phrases (EPs) with positive quantifiers (e.g., “everybody except John”) while pairing additions with their own linguistic equivalent, EPs with negative quantifiers (e.g., “nobody except John”; Moltmann, 1995). We hypothesized that EPs with positive quantifiers prime subtractions and inhibit additions while EPs with negative quantifiers prime additions and inhibit subtractions. Furthermore, we expected similar priming and inhibition effects from arithmetic into semantics. Our design allowed for a bidirectional analysis by using one trial's target as the prime for the next trial. Two experiments failed to show significant priming effects in either direction. Implications and possible shortcomings are explored in the general discussion. KW - cross-domain priming KW - language KW - arithmetic KW - information integration KW - cognitive module Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01524 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 9 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheepers, Christoph A1 - Mohr, Sibylle A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Roberts, Andrew M. T1 - Listening to Limericks - A Pupillometry Investigation of Perceivers' Expectancy JF - PLoS one N2 - What features of a poem make it captivating, and which cognitive mechanisms are sensitive to these features? We addressed these questions experimentally by measuring pupillary responses of 40 participants who listened to a series of Limericks. The Limericks ended with either a semantic, syntactic, rhyme or metric violation. Compared to a control condition without violations, only the rhyme violation condition induced a reliable pupillary response. An anomaly-rating study on the same stimuli showed that all violations were reliably detectable relative to the control condition, but the anomaly induced by rhyme violations was perceived as most severe. Together, our data suggest that rhyme violations in Limericks may induce an emotional response beyond mere anomaly detection. Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0074986 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 8 IS - 9 PB - PLoS CY - San Fransisco ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shaki, Samuel A1 - Fischer, Martin H. T1 - Competing Biases in Mental Arithmetic BT - When Division Is More and Multiplication Is Less JF - Frontiers in human neuroscience N2 - Mental arithmetic exhibits various biases. Among those is a tendency to overestimate addition and to underestimate subtraction outcomes. Does such “operational momentum” (OM) also affect multiplication and division? Twenty-six adults produced lines whose lengths corresponded to the correct outcomes of multiplication and division problems shown in symbolic format. We found a reliable tendency to over-estimate division outcomes, i.e., reverse OM. We suggest that anchoring on the first operand (a tendency to use this number as a reference for further quantitative reasoning) contributes to cognitive biases in mental arithmetic. KW - heuristics and biases KW - numerical cognition KW - mental arithmetic KW - mental number line KW - operational momentum Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00037 SN - 1662-5161 VL - 11 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sixtus, Elena A1 - Fischer, Martin H. T1 - Eine kognitionswissenschaftliche Betrachtung der Konzepte "Raum" und "Zahl" JF - Raum und Zahl im Fokus der Wissenschaften : eine multidisziplinäre Vorlesungsreihe Y1 - 2015 SN - 978-3-86464-082-7 SP - 35 EP - 62 PB - Trafo CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wasner, Mirjam A1 - Moeller, Korbinian A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Nuerk, Hans-Christoph T1 - Aspects of situated cognition in embodied numerosity: the case of finger counting JF - Cognitive processing : international quarterly of cognitive science N2 - Numerical cognitions such as spatial-numerical associations have been observed to be influenced by grounded, embodied and situated factors. For the case of finger counting, grounded and embodied influences have been reported. However, situated influences, e.g., that reported counting habits change with perception and action within a given situation, have not been systematically examined. To pursue the issue of situatedness of reported finger-counting habits, 458 participants were tested in three separate groups: (1) spontaneous condition: counting with both hands available, (2) perceptual condition: counting with horizontal (left-to-right) perceptual arrangement of fingers (3) perceptual and proprioceptive condition: counting with horizontal (left-to-right) perceptual arrangement of fingers and with busy dominant hand. Report of typical counting habits differed strongly between the three conditions. 28 % reported to start counting with the left hand in the spontaneous counting condition (1), 54 % in the perceptual condition (2) and 62 % in the perceptual and proprioceptive condition (3). Additionally, all participants in the spontaneous counting group showed a symmetry-based counting pattern (with the thumb as number 6), while in the two other groups, a considerable number of participants exhibited a spatially continuous counting pattern (with the pinkie as number 6). Taken together, the study shows that reported finger-counting habits depend on the perceptual and proprioceptive situation and thus are strongly influenced by situated cognition. We suggest that this account reconciles apparently contradictory previous findings of different counting preferences regarding the starting hand in different examination situations. KW - Finger counting KW - Situated cognition KW - Number processing KW - Finger-digit mapping Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-014-0599-z SN - 1612-4782 SN - 1612-4790 VL - 15 IS - 3 SP - 317 EP - 328 PB - Springer CY - Heidelberg ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wasner, Mirjam A1 - Möller, Korbinian A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Nuerk, Hans-Christoph T1 - Related but not the same: Ordinality, cardinality and 1-to-1 correspondence in finger-based numerical representations JF - Journal of cognitive psychology N2 - Finger-based numerical representations have gained increasing research interest. However, their description and assessment often refer to different numerical principles of ordinality, cardinality and 1-to-1 correspondence. Our aim was to investigate similarities and differences between these principles in finger-based numerical representations. Sixty-eight healthy adults performed ordinal finger counting, cardinal finger montring (showing the number of gestures) and finger-to-number mapping with twisted arms and fingers. We found that counting gestures and montring postures were identical for Number 10 but differed to varying degrees for other numbers. Interestingly, there was no systematic relation between finger-to-number mapping and ordinal finger counting habits. These data question the assumption of a unitary embodied finger-based numerical representation, but suggest that different finger-based representations co-exist and can be recruited flexibly depending on the numerical aspects to be conveyed. KW - Finger-based numerical representations KW - Finger counting KW - 1-to-1 Correspondence KW - Cardinality KW - Ordinality Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2014.964719 SN - 2044-5911 SN - 2044-592X VL - 27 IS - 4 SP - 426 EP - 441 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER -