The Size Congruity Effect Vanishes in Grasping: Implications for the Processing of Numerical Information

Abstract

Judgments of the physical size in which a numeral is presented are often affected by the task-irrelevant attribute of its numerical magnitude, the Size Congruity Effect (SCE). The SCE is typically interpreted as a marker of the automatic activation of numerical magnitude. However, a growing literature shows that the SCE is not robust, a possible indication that numerical information is not always activated in an automatic fashion. In the present study, we tested the SCE via grasping by way of resolving the automaticity debate. We found results that challenge the robustness of the SCE and, consequently, the validity of the automaticity assumption. The SCE was absent when participants grasped the physically larger object of a pair of 3D wooden numerals. An SCE was still recorded when the participants perceptually indicated the general location of the larger object, but not when they grasped that object. These results highlight the importance of the sensory domain when considering the generality of a perceptual effect.

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“…Apparently, the fast search during the first block failed to prime par ticipants to search for the physically unique item during the second block. This does not support our hypothesis, but it does support the late inter action model, which is consistent with a growing number of studies that are incompatible with the early interaction model (Antoine & Gevers, 2016;Arend & Henik, 2015;Cohen Kadosh, Gevers, & Notebaert, 2011;Faulkenberry et al, 2016;Namdar, Ganel, & Algom, 2018;Santens & Verguts, 2011;Sobel, Puri, Faulkenberry, & Dague, 2017). Nevertheless, our failure to prime participants to attend to physical size is inconsistent with previous studies that did manage to prime participants to attend to locations and features that would optimize search efficiency (Chun & Nakayama, 2000;Olds & Fockler, 2004;Sobel et al, 2007).…”

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“…In this respect, the invariance observed when traversing across domains supports a unified representation. Fitousi and Algom (2006) used this tactic with respect to another classic phenomenon of numerical cognition, the size-congruity effect (SCE; Henik & Tzelgov, 1982; see also, Fitousi & Algom, 2018; Namdar, Ganel, & Algom, 2018). People select the physically larger member of a pair of numerals faster when this member is also numerically larger.…”