Journal
PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH-PSYCHOLOGISCHE FORSCHUNG
Volume 80, Issue 3, Pages 399-409Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s00426-015-0722-5
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Swiss National Science Foundation [P2BEP1_152104]
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) [P2BEP1_152104] Funding Source: Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Spatial-numerical associations (small numbers-left/lower space and large numbers-right/upper space) are regularly found in simple number categorization tasks. These associations were taken as evidence for a spatially oriented mental number line. However, the role of spatial-numerical associations during more complex number processing, such as counting or mental arithmetic is less clear. Here, we investigated whether counting is associated with a movement along the mental number line. Participants counted aloud upward or downward in steps of 3 for 45 s while looking at a blank screen. Gaze position during upward counting shifted rightward and upward, while the pattern for downward counting was less clear. Our results, therefore, confirm the hypothesis of a movement along the mental number line for addition. We conclude that space is not only used to represent number magnitudes but also to actively operate on numbers in more complex tasks such as counting, and that the eyes reflect this spatial mental operation.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available