Numerous studies show that sensorimotor interactions with the environment facilitate the acquisition of numerical abilities. The present study investigated how grasping and pointing actions impact performance on subsequent numerical tasks, focusing on the relationship between motor actions and numerical cognition, and extending existing research on the role of sensorimotor interactions in number processing. A well-studied phenomenon in the number literature is the “distance effect”: participants are faster when comparing distant numbers (e.g., 1 vs. 5) than when comparing close numbers (e.g., 4 vs. 5). The experimental protocol required participants to perform an action, and then engage in numerical magnitude comparisons and order judgments across varying numerical distances. In particular, thirty-seven participants performed grasping and pointing actions followed by a numerical magnitude comparison (e.g., "Is 4 bigger than 5?") or a numerical order judgment (e.g., "Are 4, 5, and 6 in order?"). The experiment treated action type (grasping vs. pointing), numerical distance (far vs. close), magnitude (small vs. large), and numerical order (consecutive vs. non-consecutive) as within-subject variables. We conducted a repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) to evaluate the impact of these factors on reaction times and accuracy. In the magnitude comparison task, we found the distance effect after grasping, but not after pointing. In the numerical order judgment task, we observed no significant difference between the grasping and pointing tasks. These results provide evidence for the involvement of sensorimotor systems in the processing of both cardinal and ordinal numbers and further illustrates the effects of different motor actions on different aspects of numerical cognition.
Numerous studies show that sensorimotor interactions with the environment facilitate the acquisition of numerical abilities. The present study investigated how grasping and pointing actions impact performance on subsequent numerical tasks, focusing on the relationship between motor actions and numerical cognition, and extending existing research on the role of sensorimotor interactions in number processing. A well-studied phenomenon in the number literature is the “distance effect”: participants are faster when comparing distant numbers (e.g., 1 vs. 5) than when comparing close numbers (e.g., 4 vs. 5). The experimental protocol required participants to perform an action, and then engage in numerical magnitude comparisons and order judgments across varying numerical distances. In particular, thirty-seven participants performed grasping and pointing actions followed by a numerical magnitude comparison (e.g., "Is 4 bigger than 5?") or a numerical order judgment (e.g., "Are 4, 5, and 6 in order?"). The experiment treated action type (grasping vs. pointing), numerical distance (far vs. close), magnitude (small vs. large), and numerical order (consecutive vs. non-consecutive) as within-subject variables. We conducted a repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) to evaluate the impact of these factors on reaction times and accuracy. In the magnitude comparison task, we found the distance effect after grasping, but not after pointing. In the numerical order judgment task, we observed no significant difference between the grasping and pointing tasks. These results provide evidence for the involvement of sensorimotor systems in the processing of both cardinal and ordinal numbers and further illustrates the effects of different motor actions on different aspects of numerical cognition.
How Can We Understand Numerical Cognition via Sensorimotor System: The Specific Role of Pointing
KARADENIZ, CEMRE
2023/2024
Abstract
Numerous studies show that sensorimotor interactions with the environment facilitate the acquisition of numerical abilities. The present study investigated how grasping and pointing actions impact performance on subsequent numerical tasks, focusing on the relationship between motor actions and numerical cognition, and extending existing research on the role of sensorimotor interactions in number processing. A well-studied phenomenon in the number literature is the “distance effect”: participants are faster when comparing distant numbers (e.g., 1 vs. 5) than when comparing close numbers (e.g., 4 vs. 5). The experimental protocol required participants to perform an action, and then engage in numerical magnitude comparisons and order judgments across varying numerical distances. In particular, thirty-seven participants performed grasping and pointing actions followed by a numerical magnitude comparison (e.g., "Is 4 bigger than 5?") or a numerical order judgment (e.g., "Are 4, 5, and 6 in order?"). The experiment treated action type (grasping vs. pointing), numerical distance (far vs. close), magnitude (small vs. large), and numerical order (consecutive vs. non-consecutive) as within-subject variables. We conducted a repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) to evaluate the impact of these factors on reaction times and accuracy. In the magnitude comparison task, we found the distance effect after grasping, but not after pointing. In the numerical order judgment task, we observed no significant difference between the grasping and pointing tasks. These results provide evidence for the involvement of sensorimotor systems in the processing of both cardinal and ordinal numbers and further illustrates the effects of different motor actions on different aspects of numerical cognition.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12608/79314