Cross-dimensional magnitude interaction is modulated by representational noise: Evidence from space-time interaction

Wang, Ruiming; Cai, Zhenguang G.

doi:10.31234/osf.io/fmjks

Cited by 3 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Such a finding is consistent with the conclusion of Cai and Connell (2015) that the interaction between space and time is shaped by the acuity with which space is perceived and memorized. Indeed, in another study (Wang & Cai, 2017), we provided additional evidence that the amount of interference a dimension is susceptible to is proportionally related with the memory noise that dimension has (a point we will return to in the general discussion).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…As discussed earlier, when space is presented visually as filled length, it biases time but itself is not biased by time (e.g., Casasanto & Boroditsky, 2008); in contrast, when space is haptically perceived, it is susceptible to interference from time (Cai & Connell, 2015). Wang and Cai (2017) also showed that space-time interaction also hinges on length format: while filled lengths (e.g., in the form of a solid line) unilaterally affects concurrent durations, unfilled lengths (e.g., demarcated empty spatial intervals) and concurrent durations have a reciprocal influence on each other. They further showed that these different patterns of interaction is due to the fact that unfilled lengths afford noisier memory representations than filled lengths;…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…It been previously observed that space always exerts a greater influence on time than vice versa (Bottini & Casasanto, 2013;Casasanto & Boroditsky, 2008;Casasanto, Fotakopoulou, & Boroditsky, 2010;Magnani, Oliveri, & Frassinetti, 2014;Merritt, Casasanto, & Brannon, 2010). However, a more recent study by Cai and Connell (2015) suggests that space-time interaction is modulated by a variety of perceptual factors such as modality of perception and format of presentation, with time having greater interference on space than the other way around in certain cases (e.g., when length is perceived via touch; see also Wang & Cai, 2017). In this study, we use space-time interaction (the locus of which is currently being debated; see below) as a test case to explore the mechanics of cross-dimensional magnitude interactions; in particularly, we test the hypothesis that magnitudes of different dimensions interact with each other as a result of interference when magnitude representations of different dimensions are concurrently held in working memory.…”

Section: Mechanistic Accounts Of Cross-dimensional Magnitude Interactmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Indeed, they showed that when length is perceived with a less dominant sense such as touch (hence more memory noise; e.g., Manyam, 1986;Schultz & Petersik, 1994), concurrent length information fails to bias duration perception and length perception is instead influenced by the concurrent duration information. Wang and Cai (2017) further demonstrated that the format in which length is presented also affects how space and time interact. While less noisy filled length (in the form of a solid line, e. g., _________________ ) unilaterally affects duration (as in most previous studies), noisier unfilled length (a spatial interval demarcated by two boundaries, e.g., | |) and duration mutually interfere with each other.…”

Section: Magnitude Interaction Between Space and Timementioning

confidence: 97%

“…In addition, it is yet unclear how memory interference between space and time can account for the findings that space-time interaction is modulated by perceptual modality and length format (e.g., Cai & Connell, 2015;Wang & Cai, 2017).…”

Section: Magnitude Interaction Between Space and Timementioning

confidence: 99%

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Cross-dimensional magnitude interactions arise from memory interference

Cai

Wang

Shen

et al. 2018

Cognitive Psychology

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Magnitudes from different dimensions (e.g., space and time) interact with each other in perception, but how these interactions occur remains unclear. In four experiments, we investigated whether cross-dimensional magnitude interactions arise from memory interference. In Experiment 1, participants perceived a constant-length line consisting of two line segments of complementary lengths and presented for a variable stimulus duration; then they received a cue about which of the two segment lengths to later reproduce. Participants were to first reproduce the stimulus duration and then the cued length. Reproduced durations increased as a function of the cued length if the cue was given before duration was retrieved from memory for reproduction (i.e. before duration reproduction; Experiment 1) but not if it was given after the duration memory had been retrieved from memory (i.e. after the start of duration reproduction; Experiment 2). These findings demonstrate that space-time interaction arises as a result of memory interference when length and duration information co-exist in working memory. Experiment 3 further demonstrated spatial interference on duration memories from memories of filled lengths (i.e. solid line segments) but not from noisier memories of unfilled lengths (demarcated empty spatial intervals), thus highlighting the role of memory noise in space-time interaction. Finally, Experiment 4 showed that time also exerted memory interference on space when space was presented as (relatively noisy) unfilled lengths. Taken together, these findings suggest that cross-dimensional magnitude interactions arise as a result of memory interference and the extent and direction of the interaction depend on the relative memory noises of the target and interfering dimensions. We propose a Bayesian model whereby the estimation of a magnitude is based on the integration of the noisily encoded percept of the target magnitude and the prior knowledge that magnitudes co-vary across dimensions (e.g., space and time). We discuss implications for cross-dimensional magnitude interactions in general.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Mechanistic Accounts Of Cross-dimensional Magnitude Interactmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Magnitude Interaction Between Space and Timementioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Magnitude Interaction Between Space and Timementioning

confidence: 99%

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Cross-dimensional magnitude interactions arise from memory interference

Cai

Wang

Shen

et al. 2018

Cognitive Psychology

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Interrelations Between Temporal and Spatial Cognition: The Role of Modality-Specific Processing

et al. 2018

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Temporal and spatial representations are not independent of each other. Two conflicting theories provide alternative hypotheses concerning the specific interrelations between temporal and spatial representations. The asymmetry hypothesis (based on the conceptual metaphor theory, Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) predicts that temporal and spatial representations are asymmetrically interrelated such that spatial representations have a stronger impact on temporal representations than vice versa. In contrast, the symmetry hypothesis (based on a theory of magnitude, Walsh, 2003) predicts that temporal and spatial representations are symmetrically interrelated. Both theoretical approaches have received empirical support. From an embodied cognition perspective, we argue that taking sensorimotor processes into account may be a promising steppingstone to explain the contradictory findings. Notably, different modalities are differently sensitive to the processing of time and space. For instance, auditory information processing is more sensitive to temporal than spatial information, whereas visual information processing is more sensitive to spatial than temporal information. Consequently, we hypothesized that different sensorimotor tasks addressing different modalities may account for the contradictory findings. To test this, we critically reviewed relevant literature to examine which modalities were addressed in time-space mapping studies. Results indicate that the majority of the studies supporting the asymmetry hypothesis applied visual tasks for both temporal and spatial representations. Studies supporting the symmetry hypothesis applied mainly auditory tasks for the temporal domain, but visual tasks for the spatial domain. We conclude that the use of different tasks addressing different modalities may be the primary reason for (a)symmetric effects of space on time, instead of a genuine (a)symmetric mapping.

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