Symbolic estrangement or symbolic integration of numerals with quantities: Methodological pitfalls and a possible solution

Autor: Bert Reynvoet, Delphine Sasanguie, Mila Marinova
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Male
Physiology
Computer science
lcsh:Medicine
Social Sciences
Neuropsychological Tests
Notation
computer.software_genre
Task (project management)
Presentation
Mathematical and Statistical Techniques
0302 clinical medicine
Number Theory
Medicine and Health Sciences
Psychology
lcsh:Science
media_common
Brain Mapping
Multidisciplinary
Experimental Design
05 social sciences
Software Engineering
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Electrophysiology
Bioassays and Physiological Analysis
Pattern Recognition
Visual

Brain Electrophysiology
Research Design
Physical Sciences
Pattern recognition (psychology)
Engineering and Technology
Female
The Symbolic
Symbolic integration
Statistics (Mathematics)
Natural language processing
Research Article
Adult
Computer and Information Sciences
Matching (statistics)
Adolescent
Cognitive Neuroscience
media_common.quotation_subject
Neurophysiology
Research and Analysis Methods
050105 experimental psychology
Numeral system
Young Adult
03 medical and health sciences
Reaction Time
Humans
Adults
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Statistical Methods
Transcranial Stimulation
Analysis of Variance
Software Tools
business.industry
lcsh:R
Electrophysiological Techniques
Cognitive Psychology
Reproducibility of Results
Biology and Life Sciences
Reasoning
Age Groups
People and Places
Cognitive Science
lcsh:Q
Population Groupings
Artificial intelligence
business
computer
Mathematics
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Neuroscience
Zdroj: PLoS ONE
PLoS ONE, Vol 13, Iss 7, p e0200808 (2018)
ISSN: 1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200808
Popis: Previous studies, which examined whether symbolic and non-symbolic quantity representations are processed by two independent systems or by one common system, reached contradicting findings, possibly due to methodological differences. Indeed, some researchers advocate the two systems approach, based on the presence of notation-specific switch cost in conditions where adults have to compare pairs of symbolic and non-symbolic quantities, in combination with the absence of such a cost in conditions containing quantities of the same notation. However, other researchers used matching instructions, and reported a facilitation in the mixed notation conditions, suggesting that the two systems are automatically integrated. In the current study, we conducted three experiments, in which we examined the existence of two separate quantity systems, but we used various experimental manipulations (e.g., task instructions, presentation order) to unravel the previous inconsistent findings. In Experiment 1, we investigated the role of task instructions by presenting participants with pure and mixed notation trials with both comparison and matching tasks. In Experiment 2, we tested the role of blocked and randomized presentation order for the pure and mixed trials. Our data showed that cost for switching between the symbolic and non-symbolic quantities is present, but is prone to a certain methodological drawback: when the differences between the processing times for two sequentially presented stimuli of different notations are not taken into account, this masks the cost for switching between the two systems. To overcome this problem, in Experiment 3 we used an audio-visual paradigm. Overall, our results provide further evidence for the existence of distinct quantity representations, independently of task instructions or presentation order. Additionally, considering this methodological pitfall we argue that the audio-visual paradigm is better suited when investigating the integration between symbolic and non- symbolic quantities. ispartof: PLoS One vol:13 issue:7 ispartof: location:United States status: Published online
Databáze: OpenAIRE