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Numbers and space: a cognitive illusion?

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Abstract

This study investigated the relationships between numerical and spatial representations by means of a bisection task, exploring the view that the core representation of number meaning is spatially organized as a mental number line. In Experiment nos. 1 (bisection of digit strings) and 2 (bisection of flanked lines) spatial biases towards the larger digit were found to be related only to processing of relative magnitude. Experiment nos. 3 (bisection of an unfilled space) and 4 (bisection of flanked lines/unfilled spaces) aimed at disclosing perceptual, attentional, and numerical constraints on the bias induced by the position of the larger digit. This effect is interpreted in terms of a cognitive illusion of length, whereby a spatial bias compensates for the numerical disparity. This seems to operate in a categorical fashion (“small/large”), and to be congruent with the assumption that relatively large numbers are associated with the right side of a mental representational space.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by a PRIN grant to G.V. M.D. d. H. is supported by a QUA_SI fellowship, from the University of Milano-Bicocca.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Psicologia, Universitá degli Studi Milano-Bicocca, Edificio U6 Piazza dell‘Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126, Milano, Italy

    Maria Dolores de Hevia, Luisa Girelli & Giuseppe Vallar

  2. Departamento de Psicología Básica II, Universidad Complutense de Madrid,  , Spain

    Maria Dolores de Hevia & Maria Dolores de Hevia

Authors
  1. Maria Dolores de Hevia
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  2. Luisa Girelli
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  3. Giuseppe Vallar
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Correspondence to Maria Dolores de Hevia.

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Dolores de Hevia, M., Girelli, L. & Vallar, G. Numbers and space: a cognitive illusion?. Exp Brain Res 168, 254–264 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-005-0084-0

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