Syntax-driven number reading: The identification of digits is dominated by the number’s syntactic structure

Dotan, Dror

doi:10.31219/osf.io/nbyx2

Cited by 4 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…3; χ 2 (4) = 22.3, p < .001). This suggests that the processing of numbers is sensitive to the triplet-based structure, in accordance with previous studies showing that both the visual (Dotan, 2022) and the verbal (Dotan & Brutmann, 2022) processing of numbers are triplet-based. The triplet-based structure may be a part of a more sophisticated structure of the number, as a multi-level hierarchy (McCloskey et al, 1986).…”

Section: Triplet-based Processing Of the Numbersupporting

confidence: 92%

The syntactic origins of number-reading difficulties: a descriptive analysis of readers with and without dysnumeria

Handelsman¹,

Dotan²

2023

Preprint

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Dysnumeria, a learning disorder that disrupts number reading and writing, hinders numerical literacy and thus disturbs everyday life. However, little is known about its prevalence or its origins. Here, we provide data on the number-reading performance of typical readers (n=143) and readers with dysnumeria (n=50), who read aloud 120 multi-digit numbers. The typical readers made 6.4% errors on average, and 6.2% of them turned out to have dysnumeria – similar to the reported prevalence of dyslexia and dyscalculia. We also analyzed the types of errors, as specific error types can be traced back to specific number-reading processes. Both typical readers and those with dysnumeria exhibited a high rate of syntactic errors, indicating that the main challenge in reading numbers is the need to handle the number’s syntactic structure.

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Section: Triplet-based Processing Of the Numbersupporting

confidence: 92%

The syntactic origins of number-reading difficulties: a descriptive analysis of readers with and without dysnumeria

Handelsman¹,

Dotan²

2023

Preprint

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“…A second relevant aspect of the visual analyzer is that it groups digits into triplets (Dotan, 2022; Dotan & Friedmann, 2018). This too may be a top‐down verbal effect, originating in the triplet‐based structure of the verbal number system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another distinction is between lexical processes, which handle the identity of each digit or number word, and syntactic processes, which handle the relations among these lexical elements. This distinction was shown by neuropsychological (Blanken et al, 1997;Cohen et al, 1997;Cuetos & Miera, 1998;Delazer & Bartha, 2001;Dotan et al, 2014;Dotan & Friedmann, 2018;Friedmann et al, 2021;Lochy et al, 2004;Noël & Seron, 1993), behavioral (Dotan, Breslavskiy, et al, 2021;García-Orza et al, 2017, 2022Hung et al, 2015;Lozin & Pinhas, 2022;Zuber et al, 2009), developmental (Barrouillet et al, 2010;Cheung & Ansari, 2020;Göbel et al, 2014;Moeller et al, 2011;, and brain imaging studies (Benavides-Varela et al, 2016;Furumoto, 2006a). The visual-verbal separation and lexical-syntactic separation are orthogonal, i.e., there are lexical and syntactic processes both in the visual analyzer and in the verbal production system.…”

Section: The Processes Involved In Number Readingmentioning

confidence: 97%

Top‐Down Number Reading: Language Affects the Visual Identification of Digit Strings

Dotan

2023

Cognitive Science

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Reading numbers aloud involves visual processes that analyze the digit string and verbal processes that produce the number words. Cognitive models of number reading assume that information flows from the visual input to the verbal production processes—a feed‐forward processing mode in which the verbal production depends on the visual input but not vice versa. Here, I show that information flows also in the opposite direction, from verbal production to the visual input processes. Participants read aloud briefly presented multi‐digit strings in Hebrew, in which the order of words is congruent with the order of digits (21 = twenty‐and‐one), and in Arabic, in which the ones word precedes the tens word (one‐and‐twenty). The error‐by‐digit‐position curve was affected by language: relative to Hebrew, in Arabic the error rate was slightly lower for the unit digit and slightly higher for the decade digit, indicating that in Arabic the unit digit was processed earlier and the decade digit later, in accord with the Arabic word order. This language‐dependent processing order originated in the visual level and was not a verbal confound, because it persisted even when I controlled for the serial position of the decade/unit word in the verbal number by using numbers with 0 (two hundred three/two hundred thirty). I conclude that the visual analyzer's digit scanning order, decade‐first or unit‐first, is not fixed but affected by the language in which the number is produced—a top‐down, verbal‐to‐visual information flow.

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“…A second relevant aspect of the visual analyzer is that it groups digits into triplets (Dotan, 2022;Dotan & Friedmann, 2018). This too may be a top-down verbal effect, originating in the triplet-based structure of the verbal number system.…”

Section: Types Of Verbal-to-visual Top-down Effects In Number Readingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More specifically, I examined the order in which the visual analyzer scans the digits. For numbers sufficiently long (3-4 digits and more), the visual analyzer scans the digits serially, from left to right, even for speakers of a language such as Hebrew, in which words are written from right to left (Dotan, 2022;Dotan et al, 2021;Friedmann et al, 2010). A non-linguistic interpretation of the left-to-right scanning order is that it reflects a default intrinsic behavior of the visual analyzer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Top-down number reading: Language affects the visual identification of digit strings

Dotan¹

2023

Preprint

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Reading numbers aloud involves visual processes that analyze the digit string and verbal processes that produce the number words. Cognitive models of number reading assume that information flows from the visual input to the verbal production processes – a feed-forward processing mode in which the verbal production depends on the visual input but not vice versa. Here, I show that information flows also in the opposite direction, from verbal production to the visual input stage. Participants read aloud briefly-presented multi-digit strings in Hebrew, in which the order of words is congruent with the order of digits (21 = twenty-and-one), and in Arabic, in which the ones word precedes the tens word (one-and-twenty). The error-by-digit-position curve, which reflects the order in which the visual analyzer scans the digits, was affected by language: relative to Hebrew, in Arabic the error rate was slightly higher for the decade digit, indicating later processing, and slightly lower for the unit digit, indicating earlier processing. I conclude that the visual analyzer of Arabic speakers processed the unit digit before the decade digit, in accord with the language-specific order of words. The same effect was observed even within participant, when bilingual participants read numbers in Hebrew and in Arabic. I conclude that the digit scanning order is not fixed for each person, but is determined in real time, according to the current linguistic context, via a top-down, verbal-to-visual information flow.

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Syntax-driven number reading: The identification of digits is dominated by the number’s syntactic structure

Cited by 4 publications

References 32 publications

The syntactic origins of number-reading difficulties: a descriptive analysis of readers with and without dysnumeria

The syntactic origins of number-reading difficulties: a descriptive analysis of readers with and without dysnumeria

Top‐Down Number Reading: Language Affects the Visual Identification of Digit Strings

Top-down number reading: Language affects the visual identification of digit strings

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