When 9 is Not on the Right: Implications From Number-Form Synaesthesia

Gertner, Limor; Henik, Avishai; Cohenkadosh, Roi

doi:10.1037/e512682013-341

Cited by 4 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 0 publications

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“…shown by any of the number form participants (Gertner et al, 2009, Fig 2C) was comparable in size to the distance effects shown by non-synaesthetes is consistent with the suggestion that the number lines of synaesthetes and controls were similarly mediated by voluntary control.…”

Section: Some Problems In Using Distance Effects As Evidence For the supporting

confidence: 73%

“…First, regarding the difference between number form and control participants, it should be noted that the synaesthetes in the study of Gertner et al (2009, Fig.2) showed numerical trends for distance effects even in some of their spatially incongruent conditions (although these trends did not reach significance, no formal comparison was presented of their magnitude in relation to the size of distance effects in congruent conditions). If these trends were mediated by participants' ability to adopt spatial orientations that occur in other parts of their number forms, as was speculated by the authors, this seems to counter the claim of involuntariness and inflexibility.…”

Section: Some Problems In Using Distance Effects As Evidence For the mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The interpretation of these distance effects by Gertner et al (2009) is laudably circumspect, avoiding blanket claims of automaticity. Instead they make more specific claims about certain components of automaticity -namely involuntariness and…”

Section: Some Problems In Using Distance Effects As Evidence For the mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In an attempt to address the automaticity issue more directly, one of the abovementioned studies of incongruity effects also examined numerical distance effects shown during magnitude comparison of numeral pairs (Gertner et al, 2009) only showed a significant distance effect (i.e., faster RT for larger numerical distance) in this spatially congruent condition, suggesting that it was only in the congruent condition that a spatial layout was adopted. By contrast, control participants showed significant distance effects at a group level for all spatial layouts.…”

Section: Using Distance Effects In Magnitude Comparison To Argue Thatmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Automaticity in sequence-space synaesthesia: A critical appraisal of the evidence

Price

Mattingley

2013

Cortex

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For many people, thinking about certain types of common sequence -for example calendar units or numerals -elicits a vivid experience that the sequence members occupy spatial locations which are in turn part of a larger spatial pattern of sequence members.Recent research on these visuospatial experiences has usually considered them to be a variety of synaesthesia, and many studies have argued that this sequence-space synaesthesia is an automatic process, consistent with a traditional view that automaticity is a key property of synaesthesia. In this review we present a critical discussion of data from the three main paradigms that have been used to argue for automaticity in sequencespace synaesthesia, namely SNARC-like effects (Spatial-Numerical-Association-ofResponse-Codes), spatial cueing, and perceptual incongruity effects. We suggest that previous studies have been too imprecise in specifying which type of automaticity is implicated. Moreover, mirroring previous challenges to automaticity in other types of synaesthesia, we conclude that existing data are at best ambiguous regarding the automaticity of sequence-space synaesthesia, and may even be more consistent with the effects of controlled (i.e., non-automatic) processes. This lack of strong evidence for automaticity reduces the temptation to seek explanations of sequence-space synaesthesia in terms of processes mediated by qualitatively abnormal brain organisation or mechanisms. Instead, more parsimonious explanations in terms of extensively rehearsed associations, established for example via normal processes of visuospatial imagery, are convergent with arguments that synaesthetic phenomena are on a continuum with normal cognition.

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Section: Some Problems In Using Distance Effects As Evidence For the supporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Some Problems In Using Distance Effects As Evidence For the mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Some Problems In Using Distance Effects As Evidence For the mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Using Distance Effects In Magnitude Comparison To Argue Thatmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Automaticity in sequence-space synaesthesia: A critical appraisal of the evidence

Price

Mattingley

2013

Cortex

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“…This might imply that specific task requirements may induce humans to generate different representations (e.g., shared representation for different notations). Clearly, humans can generate numerical representations according to task requirements (Bachtold et al 1998;Fischer & Rottmann 2005;Gertner et al 2009;Hung et al 2008;Lindemann et al 2008;Shaki & Fischer 2008;Shaki & Petrusic 2005). For example, Bachtold et al (1998), in a numerical comparison task of the numbers 1 to 11 (excluding the number 6 which serves as the standard), found that subjects showed a normal SNARC effect when they conceived the numbers as distances on a ruler, which represents small numbers on the left and larger numbers on the right.…”

Section: Numbers Are Not Abstractmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-abstractness as mental simulation in the representation of number

Myachykov¹,

Platenburg²,

Fischer³

2009

Behav Brain Sci

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The study of neuronal specialisation in different cognitive and perceptual domains is important for our understanding of the human brain, its typical and atypical development, and the evolutionary precursors of cognition. Central to this understanding is the issue of numerical representation, and the question of whether numbers are represented in an abstract fashion. Here we discuss and challenge the claim that numerical representation is abstract. We discuss the principles of cortical organisation with special reference to number and also discuss methodological and theoretical limitations that apply to numerical cognition and also to the field of cognitive neuroscience in general. We argue that numerical representation is primarily non-abstract and is supported by different neuronal populations residing in the parietal cortex.

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