Abstract
How do we use place information in a number comparison task involving multidigit numbers? In four experiments, subjects identified stimulus numbers as larger or smaller than the number 5,000 in a choice reaction time task. As the difference between the number of places in the stimulus number and the number of places in the standard decreased, response time and errors significantly increased. When the number of places was held constant, the type of numeric information extracted depended on the value of the standard (5,000 or 5,555). In some cases, irrelevant place information affected choice time.
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This research was supported by National Institute of Education Grant G-0178 to J. V. Hinrichs. Experiment 1 was conducted as part of an honors thesis at the University of Iowa by the third author under the direction of the first author. We thank Laura Novick for conducting Experiment 4. A preliminary report of the data was presented at the meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Phoenix, Arizona, November 9, 1979.
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Hinrichs, J.V., Berie, J.L. & Mosell, M.K. Place information in multidigit number comparison. Memory & Cognition 10, 487–495 (1982). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197652
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197652