Spatial processes in linear ordering.

Hecker, Ulrich von; Klauer, Karl Christoph; Wolf, Lukas J.; Fazilat-Pour, Masoud

doi:10.1037/xlm0000220

Cited by 15 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 88 publications

(277 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…appears on the left side, compared to the right side. This left-anchoring effect, as reported earlier (von Hecker et al, 2016) proved replicable and robust under three conditions designed to address alternative influences during the mental construction of the rank order. We asked the question whether a well-researched, strong, spatial simulation, that is, the mental time line (Fuhrman & Boroditsky, Gevers, Reynvoet, & Fias, 2003;Gevers, Caessens, & Fias, 2005;Ouellet, Santiago, Funes, & Lupianez, 2010;Santiago, Lupianez, Perez, & Funes, 2007;Tversky, Kugelmass, & Winter, 1991) would interfere with the construction of a linear order by degrees of dominance.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

“…With respect to the hypotheses, we analysed latencies, as well as accuracy data for correct responses. In previous studies (von Hecker et al, 2016), the target anchoring effects, although mostly occurring in latencies, sometimes also occurred in accuracies, or in both.…”

Section: Data Preparationmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…In an earlier series of experiments, we (von Hecker, Klauer, Wolf, and Fazilat-Pour, 2016) provided initial evidence for spatial processes associated with the learning of (and subsequent reasoning about) linear orders, such as A is older than B, B is older than C, C is older than D, and so forth. As conclusion, spatial processing was seen as a part of constructing a mental representation of such orders.…”

Section: Basic Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A robust anchoring effect in linear ordering

Hecker

Klauer

Asfalg

2019

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The robustness of effects indicating a spatial component associated with abstract reasoning is tested. Judgements regarding hierarchical orderings tend to be faster and more accurate when the dominant element in any pair from the order (e.g., the older, richer) is presented on the left of the screen as compared with the right ( left-anchoring effect). This signature effect is investigated in three conditions (Experiment 1), each implementing a different timing regime for the elements in each pair, during learning. Thereby, the construction of a mental representation of the ordering was exposed to a potentially competing spatial simulation, that is, the well-known “mental timeline” with orientation from left (present) to right (future). First, the left-anchoring effect for order representations remained significant when timeline information was congruent with the presumed left-anchoring process, that is, the dominant element in a pair was always presented first. Second, the same effect remained also significant when the timeline-related information was random, that is, the dominant element being presented either first or second. Third, the same effect was found to be still significant, when the timeline-related information was contrary to the left-anchoring process, that is, the dominant element being presented always second. Experiment 2 replicates the target effect under random timeline information, controlling for colour as a stimulus feature. The results are discussed in the context of a theoretical model that integrates basic assumptions about acquired reading/writing habits as a scaffold for spatial simulation and primacy/dominance representation within such spatial simulations.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Section: Data Preparationmentioning

confidence: 68%

Section: Basic Assumptionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A robust anchoring effect in linear ordering

Hecker

Klauer

Asfalg

2019

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This is somewhat surprising given that memory is a fundamental feature of human existence and a central topic in psychological research. Two studies have investigated the link between script direction and attentional processes, finding a left-anchoring tendency in comparative judgments in cultures with left-to-right scripts, but a rightanchoring tendency in cultures with right-to-left scripts (von Hecker, Klauer, Wolf, & Fazilat-Pour, 2016) and demonstrating different patterns in attention allocation in unidirectionally versus bidirectionally readers (Hernandez, Wang, Sheng, Kalliny, & Minor, 2017). However, neither of these studies investigated memory processes.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The first, the least and the last: Spatial asymmetries in memory and their relation to script trajectory

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Serial positioning biases are well documented and generally take a U-shaped form, with better memory for first (primacy) and last items (recency). Here, we test the hypothesis that the relative strength of primacy and recency depends on script direction. When presented with large arrays of images, people are expected to first direct attention to the side where they usually start reading (in our case, left among Italian, and right among Arabic speakers) and to then scan the remaining images along the habitual text trajectory. Besides supporting the predicted scanning direction with an eye-tracker methodology, Study 1a (n = 56 Italians) provides evidence for a spatial memory advantage for images positioned to the left. Study 1b (n = 34 Italians) shows that people are aware of the asymmetric scanning and the memory advantage deriving from it. Study 3 (n = 67 Italian and n = 44 Arabic speakers) shows opposite memory biases in the two samples, with best performance for images on the left among Italian and for images on the right among Arabic speakers. Together these studies contribute to the growing literature showing that scanning habits due to script direction exert a subtle influence on basic cognitive processes.

show abstract

“…In much of modern experimental psychology research, participants view stimuli on a computer and provide responses by pressing buttons. For instance, recently published studies have had participants use button or key presses to indicate their judgment of whether something is to the left or right (von Hecker, Klauer, Wolf, & Fazilat-Pour, 2015), whether something is present or absent (Shwarz & Miller, 2016), which way a stimulus is oriented (Atas, San Anton, & Cleeremans, 2015), and whether a stimulus is the same as or different from one recently presented (Rac-Lubashevsky & Kessler, 2016). Experimental psychology's common approach of using computers with standard input devices capitalizes on the flexible human ability to map meaningful judgments to meaning-free symbols and actions.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Thinking Outside the Button Box: EMG as a Computer Input Device for Psychological Research

Crawford

Vavra

Corbin

2017

Collabra: Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Experimental psychology research commonly has participants respond to stimuli by pressing buttons or keys. Standard computer input devices constrain the range of motoric responses participants can make, even as the field advances theory about the importance of the motor system in cognitive and social information processing. Here we describe an inexpensive way to use an electromyographic (EMG) signal as a computer input device, enabling participants to control a computer by contracting muscles that are not usually used for that purpose, but which may be theoretically relevant. We tested this approach in a study of facial mimicry, a well-documented phenomenon in which viewing emotional faces elicits automatic activation of corresponding muscles in the face of the viewer. Participants viewed happy and angry faces and were instructed to indicate the emotion on each face as quickly as possible by either furrowing their brow or contracting their cheek. The mapping of motor response to judgment was counterbalanced, so that one block of trials required a congruent mapping (contract brow to respond "angry," cheek to respond "happy") and the other block required an incongruent mapping (brow for "happy," cheek for "angry"). EMG sensors placed over the left corrugator supercilii muscle and left zygomaticus major muscle fed readings of muscle activation to a microcontroller, which sent a response to a computer when activation reached a predetermined threshold. Response times were faster when the motor-response mapping was congruent than when it was incongruent, extending prior studies on facial mimicry. We discuss further applications of the method for research that seeks to expand the range of human-computer interaction beyond the button box.

show abstract

Spatial processes in linear ordering.

Cited by 15 publications

References 88 publications

A robust anchoring effect in linear ordering

A robust anchoring effect in linear ordering

The first, the least and the last: Spatial asymmetries in memory and their relation to script trajectory

Thinking Outside the Button Box: EMG as a Computer Input Device for Psychological Research

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About