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Influence of numerical magnitudes on the free choice of an object position

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Abstract

The link between numerical magnitude and mechanisms of spatial orienting has been underlined in an increasing number of studies. Similarly, the relationship between numerical magnitude and grasping actions has started to be investigated. The present study focuses on the influence of numerical magnitude processing in the free choice of the position of an object. Participants were presented with a digit (1–9 without 5) and were required to decide whether it was smaller or larger than 5. Then, they had to grasp a small cube and change its position before vocally responding “higher” or “lower”. Results showed that in the initial phase of the grasp movement, the grip aperture was modulated by the numerical magnitude. Moreover, participants shifted the position of the cube more leftward with smaller digits compared with larger ones, and they tended to position the object closer to themselves with smaller digits compared with larger ones. These results extend the previous findings indicating that the processing of magnitude is tightly related to the mechanisms of spatial orienting that subserve action execution.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the EU FP7 project ROSSI: Emergence of Communication in Robots through Sensorimotor and Social Interaction (Grant Agreement No: 216125). We thank Mario Bonato and Simone Cutini for suggestions on the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

This supplement was not sponsored by outside commercial interests. It was funded entirely by ECONA, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185 Roma, Italy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Claudia Gianelli, Mariagrazia Ranzini, Michele Marzocchi, Leticìa Rettore Micheli & Anna M. Borghi

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476, Potsdam OT Golm, Germany

    Claudia Gianelli

  3. Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

    Mariagrazia Ranzini

  4. Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council (ISTC-CNR), Rome, Italy

    Anna M. Borghi

  5. Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Leticìa Rettore Micheli

Authors
  1. Claudia Gianelli
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  2. Mariagrazia Ranzini
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  3. Michele Marzocchi
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  4. Leticìa Rettore Micheli
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  5. Anna M. Borghi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claudia Gianelli.

Additional information

Claudia Gianelli and Mariagrazia Ranzini equally contributed to this manuscript.

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Gianelli, C., Ranzini, M., Marzocchi, M. et al. Influence of numerical magnitudes on the free choice of an object position. Cogn Process 13 (Suppl 1), 185–188 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0483-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0483-7

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