Different effects of numerical magnitude on visual and proprioceptive reference frames

This study assessed whether numerical magnitude affects the setting of basic spatial coordinates and reference frames, namely the subjective straight ahead. Three tasks were given to 24 right-handed healthy participants: a proprioceptive and a visuo-proprioceptive task, requiring pointing to the sub...

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Main Authors: Elvio eBlini, Zaira eCattaneo, Giuseppe eVallar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2013-04-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00190/full
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author Elvio eBlini
Elvio eBlini
Zaira eCattaneo
Zaira eCattaneo
Giuseppe eVallar
Giuseppe eVallar
author_facet Elvio eBlini
Elvio eBlini
Zaira eCattaneo
Zaira eCattaneo
Giuseppe eVallar
Giuseppe eVallar
author_sort Elvio eBlini
collection DOAJ
description This study assessed whether numerical magnitude affects the setting of basic spatial coordinates and reference frames, namely the subjective straight ahead. Three tasks were given to 24 right-handed healthy participants: a proprioceptive and a visuo-proprioceptive task, requiring pointing to the subjective straight ahead, and a visual task, requiring a perceptual judgment about the straight ahead position of a light moving left-to-right, or right-to-left. A control task, requiring the bisection of rods of different lengths, was also given. The four tasks were performed under conditions of passive auditory numerical (i.e., listening to small, 2, and large, 8, numbers), and neutral auditory-verbal (blah) stimulation. Numerical magnitude modulates the participants’ deviations in the visual straight ahead task, when the movement of the light is from left to right, with the small number bringing about a leftward deviation, the large number a rightward deviation. This result suggests that the spatial effects induced by the activation of the mental number line extend to an egocentric frame of reference. A similar directional modulation was found in the rod bisection task, in line with previous evidence. No effects of numerical magnitude were found on the proprioceptive and visuo-proprioceptive straight ahead tasks. These results suggest that the spatial effects induced by the activation of the mental number line extend to an egocentric frame of reference but only when a portion of horizontal space has to be actively explored.
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spelling doaj.art-45285d84bb9f495c94d4735e2686ab412022-12-22T01:42:43ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782013-04-01410.3389/fpsyg.2013.0019046643Different effects of numerical magnitude on visual and proprioceptive reference framesElvio eBlini0Elvio eBlini1Zaira eCattaneo2Zaira eCattaneo3Giuseppe eVallar4Giuseppe eVallar5University of Milano - BicoccaUniversity of PadovaUniversity of Milano - BicoccaBrain Connectivity Center, IRCCS MondinoUniversity of Milano - BicoccaNeuropsychological Laboratory, IRCCS Italian Auxological InstituteThis study assessed whether numerical magnitude affects the setting of basic spatial coordinates and reference frames, namely the subjective straight ahead. Three tasks were given to 24 right-handed healthy participants: a proprioceptive and a visuo-proprioceptive task, requiring pointing to the subjective straight ahead, and a visual task, requiring a perceptual judgment about the straight ahead position of a light moving left-to-right, or right-to-left. A control task, requiring the bisection of rods of different lengths, was also given. The four tasks were performed under conditions of passive auditory numerical (i.e., listening to small, 2, and large, 8, numbers), and neutral auditory-verbal (blah) stimulation. Numerical magnitude modulates the participants’ deviations in the visual straight ahead task, when the movement of the light is from left to right, with the small number bringing about a leftward deviation, the large number a rightward deviation. This result suggests that the spatial effects induced by the activation of the mental number line extend to an egocentric frame of reference. A similar directional modulation was found in the rod bisection task, in line with previous evidence. No effects of numerical magnitude were found on the proprioceptive and visuo-proprioceptive straight ahead tasks. These results suggest that the spatial effects induced by the activation of the mental number line extend to an egocentric frame of reference but only when a portion of horizontal space has to be actively explored.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00190/fullProprioceptionmental number linenumbersvisuo-spatial attentionstraight ahead tasksocular movements
spellingShingle Elvio eBlini
Elvio eBlini
Zaira eCattaneo
Zaira eCattaneo
Giuseppe eVallar
Giuseppe eVallar
Different effects of numerical magnitude on visual and proprioceptive reference frames
Frontiers in Psychology
Proprioception
mental number line
numbers
visuo-spatial attention
straight ahead tasks
ocular movements
title Different effects of numerical magnitude on visual and proprioceptive reference frames
title_full Different effects of numerical magnitude on visual and proprioceptive reference frames
title_fullStr Different effects of numerical magnitude on visual and proprioceptive reference frames
title_full_unstemmed Different effects of numerical magnitude on visual and proprioceptive reference frames
title_short Different effects of numerical magnitude on visual and proprioceptive reference frames
title_sort different effects of numerical magnitude on visual and proprioceptive reference frames
topic Proprioception
mental number line
numbers
visuo-spatial attention
straight ahead tasks
ocular movements
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00190/full
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