Reversing the Manual Digit Bias in Two-Digit Number Comparison

Though recent work in numerical cognition has supported a strong tie between numerical and spatial representations (e.g., a mental number line), less is known about such ties in multi-digit number representations. Along this line, Bloechle, Huber, and Moeller (2015) found that pointing positions in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Experimental psychology 2017-05, Vol.64 (3), p.191-204
Main Authors: Faulkenberry, Thomas J, Cruise, Alexander, Shaki, Samuel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Bias
Cognition
Computer Simulation - utilization
Concept Formation
Female
Human
Humans
Male
Mathematical Concepts
Models, Theoretical
Number Comprehension
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Summary:Though recent work in numerical cognition has supported a strong tie between numerical and spatial representations (e.g., a mental number line), less is known about such ties in multi-digit number representations. Along this line, Bloechle, Huber, and Moeller (2015) found that pointing positions in two-digit number comparison were biased leftward toward the decade digit. Moreover, this bias was reduced in unit-decade incompatible pairs. In the present study, we tracked computer mouse movements as participants compared two-digit numbers to a fixed standard (55). Similar to Bloechle et al. (2015), we found that trajectories exhibited a leftward bias that was reduced for unit-decade incompatible comparisons. However, when positions of response labels were reversed, the biases reversed. That is, we found a rightward bias for compatible pairs that was reduced for incompatible pairs. This result calls into question a purely embodied representation of place value structure and instead supports a competition model of two-digit number representation.
ISSN:1618-3169
2190-5142
DOI:10.1027/1618-3169/a000365