Small on the left, large on the right: numbers orient visual attention onto space in preverbal infants

Abstract

Numbers are represented as ordered magnitudes along a spatially oriented number line. While culture and formal education modulate the direction of this number-space mapping, it is a matter of debate whether its emergence is entirely driven by cultural experience. By registering 8-9-month-old infants' eye movements, this study shows that numerical cues are critical in orienting infants' visual attention towards a peripheral region of space that is congruent with the number's relative position on a left-to-right oriented representational continuum. This finding provides the first direct evidence that, in humans, the association between numbers and oriented spatial codes occurs before the acquisition of symbols or exposure to formal education, suggesting that the number line is not merely a product of human invention.

Operational momentum during ordering operations for size and number in 4-month-old infants

“…In fact, Bulf et al (2016) found that, unlike non-symbolic numerical cues, size cues are not capable to orient spatial attention towards peripheral regions of space in 8-month-old infants. In discussing the discrepancy between the presence of OM for the dimension of size in 12-month-olds and the absence of a size cueing effect in 8-month-olds, Macchi Cassia and colleagues (2016) argued that the phenomenon of mentally spatialize information may emerge first for numerical information and later be extended, possibly by analogy, to other dimensions, such as size.…”

Playing Reading, Using Hands: Which Activities are Linked to Number-Space Processing in Preschool Children?

“…Xu, Spelke, & Goddard, 2005). Thus, the non-symbolic SNARC, in contrast to the symbolic SNARC, can be tested in children as young as 3 and 4 years (Patro & Haman, 2012) and even in 7-months-old infants (Bulf, de Hevia, & Macchi Cassia, 2016;de Hevia, Girelli, Addabbo, & Macchi Cassia, 2014).…”

“…It cannot, however, be excluded that non-symbolic SNARC-like associationsjust because of this implicit characteristic -are more likely to emerge in tasks based on implicit measures, like speed of spatial responses or attentional shifts to the left or right (cf. Bulf et al, 2016;Ebersbach et al, 2014;Patro & Haman, 2012), which do not require the explicit arrangement of numerosities in space (like the task used in our study). Furthermore, non-symbolic numerosity-based SNA might also partially depend on the acquisition of cardinal principle knowledge.…”

Exploring the numerical mind by eye-tracking: a special issue

“…Interestingly, there is also a preference for spatially ordered magnitudes early in childhood (de Hevia, Izard, Coubart, Spelke, & Streri, 2014;De Hevia & Spelke, 2010) and this preference is particularly pronounced for a left-to-right arrangement of magnitudes, both in children (Bulf, de Hevia, & Macchi Cassia, 2015;de Hevia, Girelli, Addabbo, & Cassia, 2014) and in newborn chicks (Rugani, Vallortigara, Priftis, & Regolin, 2015; for a critical discussion see . In this issue, Macchi Cassia et al (2016) continue this fascinating line of research by investigating the operational momentum (OM) effect in infants.…”