Effect of spatial training on space-number mapping: a situated cognition account

From an embodied perspective of cognition, number processing influences the spatial organization of motor responses showing faster left/right responses to small/large numbers. Recent evidence suggests that such spatial-numerical associations (SNAs) along the transverse and sagittal planes are mutually exclusive with respect to the spatial reference frames used by the participant. Specifically, in egocentric and allocentric frames, SNAs appear along the sagittal and transverse plane, respectively. The first aim of this study was to replicate previous findings. The second aim was to explore the role of switching spatial reference frames in SNAs occurrence according to the processed plane. Consequently, during a referential frame switching (RFS) training, participants were required to identify targets based on an embodied avatar’s perspective. Using a random number generation (RNG) task after observing an avatar’s displacement, we investigated the effect of RFS training on SNAs organization across the different planes (Experiment 1 & 2 for the egocentric and allocentric perspectives, respectively). Both experiments replicated previous results, but more importantly, RFS training enables the development of new situated cognition strategies from egocentric perspectives and the generalization of transverse SNAs to other planes from allocentric perspectives.