A Common Metric Magnitude System for the Perception and Production of Numerosity, Length and Duration
Numerosity, length and duration processing may share a common functional mechanism situated within the parietal cortex. A strong parallelism between the processing of these three magnitudes has been revealed by similar behavioral signatures (e.g., Weber-Fechner’s law, the distance effect) and recipr...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2013-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00449/full |
| _version_ | 1818148043127521280 |
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| author | Virginie eCrollen Stéphane eGrade Mauro ePesenti Mauro ePesenti Valérie eDormal |
| author_facet | Virginie eCrollen Stéphane eGrade Mauro ePesenti Mauro ePesenti Valérie eDormal |
| author_sort | Virginie eCrollen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Numerosity, length and duration processing may share a common functional mechanism situated within the parietal cortex. A strong parallelism between the processing of these three magnitudes has been revealed by similar behavioral signatures (e.g., Weber-Fechner’s law, the distance effect) and reciprocal interference effects. Here, we extend the behavioral evidence for a common magnitude processing mechanism by exploring whether the under- and overestimation patterns observed during numerical perception and production tasks are also present in length and duration perception and production. In a first experiment, participants had to perform two estimation tasks (i.e., perception and production) on three magnitudes (i.e., numerosities, lengths and durations). The results demonstrate similar patterns for the three magnitudes: underestimation was observed in all perception tasks, whereas overestimation was found in all production tasks. A second experiment ensured that this pattern of under- and over-estimation was not solely generated by the mere process of perceiving or producing something. Participants were required to estimate the alphabetical position of a letter (i.e., perception task) or to produce the letter corresponding to a given position (i.e., production task). No under- or overestimation were observed in this experiment, which suggests that the process of perceiving or producing something alone cannot explain the systematic pattern of estimation observed on magnitudes. Together, these findings strengthen the idea that magnitude estimations share a common metric system, requiring similar mechanisms and/or representations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T12:44:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ab3bf8aadaa0457daca461d235632bb8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T12:44:52Z |
| publishDate | 2013-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-ab3bf8aadaa0457daca461d235632bb82022-12-22T01:06:51ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782013-07-01410.3389/fpsyg.2013.0044953025A Common Metric Magnitude System for the Perception and Production of Numerosity, Length and DurationVirginie eCrollen0Stéphane eGrade1Mauro ePesenti2Mauro ePesenti3Valérie eDormal4Université catholique de LouvainUniversité catholique de LouvainUniversité catholique de LouvainUniversité catholique de LouvainUniversité catholique de LouvainNumerosity, length and duration processing may share a common functional mechanism situated within the parietal cortex. A strong parallelism between the processing of these three magnitudes has been revealed by similar behavioral signatures (e.g., Weber-Fechner’s law, the distance effect) and reciprocal interference effects. Here, we extend the behavioral evidence for a common magnitude processing mechanism by exploring whether the under- and overestimation patterns observed during numerical perception and production tasks are also present in length and duration perception and production. In a first experiment, participants had to perform two estimation tasks (i.e., perception and production) on three magnitudes (i.e., numerosities, lengths and durations). The results demonstrate similar patterns for the three magnitudes: underestimation was observed in all perception tasks, whereas overestimation was found in all production tasks. A second experiment ensured that this pattern of under- and over-estimation was not solely generated by the mere process of perceiving or producing something. Participants were required to estimate the alphabetical position of a letter (i.e., perception task) or to produce the letter corresponding to a given position (i.e., production task). No under- or overestimation were observed in this experiment, which suggests that the process of perceiving or producing something alone cannot explain the systematic pattern of estimation observed on magnitudes. Together, these findings strengthen the idea that magnitude estimations share a common metric system, requiring similar mechanisms and/or representations.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00449/fulldurationnumerosityEstimationMagnitude processingLength |
| spellingShingle | Virginie eCrollen Stéphane eGrade Mauro ePesenti Mauro ePesenti Valérie eDormal A Common Metric Magnitude System for the Perception and Production of Numerosity, Length and Duration Frontiers in Psychology duration numerosity Estimation Magnitude processing Length |
| title | A Common Metric Magnitude System for the Perception and Production of Numerosity, Length and Duration |
| title_full | A Common Metric Magnitude System for the Perception and Production of Numerosity, Length and Duration |
| title_fullStr | A Common Metric Magnitude System for the Perception and Production of Numerosity, Length and Duration |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Common Metric Magnitude System for the Perception and Production of Numerosity, Length and Duration |
| title_short | A Common Metric Magnitude System for the Perception and Production of Numerosity, Length and Duration |
| title_sort | common metric magnitude system for the perception and production of numerosity length and duration |
| topic | duration numerosity Estimation Magnitude processing Length |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00449/full |
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