Further Evidence for a Spatial-Numerical Association in Children Before Formal Schooling

Author(s):  
Mirjam Ebersbach ◽  
Koen Luwel ◽  
Lieven Verschaffel

Given the robust finding that number and space are associated systematically at least in school children and adults, it has been concluded that this association might be based on the frequent practice of reading or writing skills, which are usually consolidated by formal schooling. However, first studies contradict this assumption demonstrating that associations of “small” magnitudes with left space and of “large” magnitudes with right space exist already in preschoolers. The present study used a non-symbolic magnitude comparison task to examine whether kindergartners who have not yet been formally instructed in reading and writing show a SNARC effect, that is, whether they would respond more rapidly with the right hand to larger numbers and with the left hand to smaller numbers. This assumption was confirmed by the data. In view of further evidence for an association between number and space that evolves before children are proficient in reading and writing, the role of potential alternative culture-specific, individual, and universal foundations of this association is emphasized and discussed.

Author(s):  
Tsymbalista L.R.

Валентність предиката має вирішальний вплив на структуру речення. Хоча активний і пасивний варіанти речення опису-ють одну й ту ж ситуацію, предикат проходить крізь трансформацію, яка тісно пов’язана з явищем валентності. У цій статті проаналізовано валентність предиката та її вплив на цю трансформацію у німецькій та українській мовах на прикладах із сучасної літератури.Мета. Метою статті є порівняння трансформації «актив – пасив» у німецькій та українській мовах та опис ролі валентності у цьому процесі.Методи. Для проведення дослідження було зібрано методом суцільної вибірки приклади пасивних конструкцій із сучас-них художніх текстів німецькою та українською мовами, які опісля було оброблено та проаналізовано з використанням типо-логічного, зіставного, описового методів, а також методу моделювання.Валентність предиката проявляється у його здатності формувати зв’язки з іншими елементами в реченні та дає змогу передбачити додаткові позиції у синтаксичній структурі речення, які можуть бути заповнені обов’язковими чи факультатив-ними компонентами. Для предиката властиві два типи валентності, які залежать від позиції поширювачів у реченні. Якщо лівобічну позицію переважно пов’язують із суб’єктом, то правобічна зазвичай стосується актантів з об’єктним, адресатним, локативним чи інструментальним значеннями.Результати. Зважаючи на те, що одна й та ж функція пасивних конструкцій у німецькій та українській мовах реалізується різними формами, валентні зміни у кожній з конструкцій мають свої особливості. Спільною рисою цих перетворень виступає зменшення облігаторних актантів на одну одиницю, яка може бути заповнена факультативно у разі комунікативної потреби у інформації про виконавця дії.Висновки. Можна зробити висновок, що валентність предиката є багатогранним феноменом, що підлягає впливу не лише формально-граматичних, а й семантико-синтаксичних чинників, а також мовленнєвої ситуації загалом. Відповідно, змін у валентності предикатів протягом трансформації з активу у пасив не можна уникнути. The valence of the predicate has a decisive effect on the structure of the sentence. Although the active and passive variant of the sentence describes the same situation, the predicate goes through a transformation that also has to do with valence. This article analyzes the valency of the predicate and its influence on such transformation in German and Ukrainian based on the examples from modern literature.Purpose. The purpose of the article is to compare the active-passive transformation in German and Ukrainian and to describe the role of valence in this process.Methods. For the research, we collected the examples of passive constructions from modern fiction in German and Ukrainian using the continuous sampling method, which were then processed and analyzed using typological, comparative, descriptive methods as well as the modelling method.The valence of the predicate verb shows in its ability to connect with other sentence elements and enables the prediction of the additional positions in the syntactic structure of the sentence, which can be supplemented by mandatory or optional components. The predicate is characterized by two types of valence, which depend on the position of the fillers in the sentence: the left-hand position is mainly connected the subject of the utterance, and the right-hand position has to do with actants which define object, addressee, location or have instrumental meaning.Results. Due to the fact that the same function of passive constructions in German and Ukrainian is realized in different forms, the valence changes in each of the constructions have their own features. A common feature of these transformations is the reduction of obligatory actants by one unit, which can be filled in optionally in case of communicative need for information about the performer of the action.Conclusions. We reach the conclusion that the valence of the predicate is a multilevel phenomenon that is influenced not only by formal grammatical but also by semantic and syntactic factors as well as the language situation in general. Accordingly, changes in the valence of predicates during the active-passive transformation are inevitable.


2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110394
Author(s):  
Diana B. Galarraga ◽  
Jay Pratt ◽  
Brett A. Cochrane

The spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect reflects the phenomenon that low digits are responded to faster with the left hand and high digits with the right. Recently, a particular variant of the SNARC effect known as the attentional SNARC (which reflects that attention can be shifted in a similar manner) has had notable replicability issues. However, a potentially useful method for measuring it was revealed by Casarotti et al. (2007) using a temporal order judgement (TOJ) task. Accordingly, the present study evaluated whether Casarotti et al.’s results were reproducible by presenting a low (1) or high (9) digit prior to a TOJ task where participants had to indicate which of two peripherally presented targets appeared first (Experiment 1) or second (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, it was revealed that the findings of Casarotti et al.’s were indeed observable upon replication. In Experiment 2, when attention and response dimensions were put in opposition, the SNARC effect corresponded to the side of response rather than attention. Taken together, the present study confirms the robustness of the attentional SNARC in TOJ tasks, but that it is not likely due to shifts in attention.


1982 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 655-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Brizzolara ◽  
Gianni L. De Nobili ◽  
Giovanni Ferretti

The role of the right hemisphere in a task of haptic discrimination of line orientation was studied in 16 children aged 7–6 and 16 adults aged 25 yr. The exploratory movements were limited to hand and wrist, since it has been shown that distal movements are mediated by the contralateral hemisphere. A comparison of the performance of the two hands shows a clear superiority of the left hand and inferred right hemisphere in both children and adults. An especial emphasis in the discussion is given to the role of the experimental procedure in enhancing the effect of the hemispheric functional asymmetries.


Author(s):  
Wim Gevers ◽  
Elie Ratinckx ◽  
Wouter De Baene ◽  
Wim Fias

In a binary response setting, it has been frequently observed that small numbers are reacted to faster with the left hand and large numbers with the right hand (i. e., the SNARC-effect) which reflects the spatial left-right orientation of the mental number line ( Dehaene, Bossini, & Giraux, 1993 ). In line with the work of Keus and Schwarz (in press ), we investigated the locus of the conflict in the SNARC effect in a parity judgment task with the Arabic numerals 1, 2, 8, or 9. Differences between compatible (left-hand response to 1 or 2 and right-hand response to 8 and 9) and incompatible SNARC conditions (left-hand response to 8 or 9 and right-hand response to 1 or 2) were observed in the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) but not in the peak latency of the P300. In accordance with Keus and colleagues ( Keus, Jenks, & Schwarz, 2005 ), we argue that the locus of the conflict is situated at intermediate response-related stages. However, instead of adopting a single-route processing architecture, a dual route account is proposed as the underlying processing architecture explaining the SNARC effect.


1982 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hitoshi Honda

To examine the role of visual monitoring in the between-hand differences in skilled manual movements, eye movements and performance during bimanual aiming tasks were analysed. When subjects were required to make bimanual aiming responses to symmetrically placed targets, they preferentially monitored the movements of the right hand, resulting in better performance on the right hand. In addition, manipulation of the subject's gaze showed that the movements of the right hand were more influenced by visual monitoring than those of the left hand. The results were interpreted as showing that the between-hand differences in skilled movements are mainly due to the different efficiency in the use of visual monitoring.


2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 698-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew F. S. Rushworth ◽  
Michael Krams ◽  
Richard E. Passingham

It is widely agreed that visuospatial orienting attention depends on a network of frontal and parietal areas in the right hemisphere. It is thought that the visuospatial orienting role of the right parietal lobe is related to its role in the production of overt eye movements. The experiments reported here test the possibility that other parietal regions may be important for directing attention in relation to response modalities other than eye movement. Specifically, we used positron emission tomography (PET) to test the hypothesis that a ‘left’ parietal area, the supramarginal gyrus, is important for attention in relation to limb movements (Rushworth et al., 1997; Rushworth, Ellison, & Walsh, in press). We have referred to this process as ‘motor attention’ to distinguish it from orienting attention. In one condition subjects spent most of the scanning period covertly attending to ‘left’ hand movements that they were about to make. Activity in this first condition was compared with a second condition with identical stimuli and movement responses but lacking motor attention periods. Comparison of the conditions revealed that motor attention related activity was almost exclusively restricted to the ‘left’ hemisphere despite the fact that subjects only ever made ipsilateral, left-hand responses. Left parietal activity was prominent in this comparison, within the parietal lobe the critical region for motor attention was the supramarginal gyrus and the adjacent anterior intraparietal sulcus (AIP), a region anterior to the posterior parietal cortex identified with orienting attention. In a second part of the experiment we compared a condition in which subjects covertly rehearsed verbal responses with a condition in which they made verbal responses immediately without rehearsal. A comparison of the two conditions revealed verbal rehearsal-related activity in several anterior left hemisphere areas including Broca's area. The lack of verbal rehearsal-related activity in the left supra-marginal gyrus confirms that this area plays a direct role in motor attention that cannot be attributed to any strategy of verbal mediation. The results also provide evidence concerning the importance of ventral premotor (PMv) and Broca's area in motor attention and language processes.


Author(s):  
Irmgard de la Vega ◽  
Verena Eikmeier ◽  
Rolf Ulrich ◽  
Barbara Kaup

Abstract. The existence of a lateral mental timeline is well established; in left-to-right writing cultures, past is associated with the left, future with the right. Accordingly, participants respond faster with the left to past, and with the right to future. Recent studies indicate that this association does not reverse when participants respond with their hands crossed. We investigated the role of instruction for this association in a crossed-hands paradigm. Participants classified the temporal reference of words by pressing a key on the left with their right hand, or a key on the right with their left. Half of the participants were instructed to respond with their right or left hand; the other half were instructed to respond with the left or right key. An interaction between time and key showed only for participants instructed to respond with the key, providing support for the role of extracorporal space for the mental timeline.


2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tali Leibovich ◽  
Stephan E. Vogel ◽  
Avishai Henik ◽  
Daniel Ansari

It is well established that, when comparing nonsymbolic magnitudes (e.g., dot arrays), adults can use both numerical (i.e., the number of items) and nonnumerical (density, total surface areas, etc.) magnitudes. It is less clear which of these magnitudes is more salient or processed more automatically. In this fMRI study, we used a nonsymbolic comparison task to ask if different brain areas are responsible for the automatic processing of numerical and nonnumerical magnitudes, when participants were instructed to attend to either the numerical or the nonnumerical magnitudes of the same stimuli. An interaction of task (numerical vs. nonnumerical) and congruity (congruent vs. incongruent) was found in the right TPJ. Specifically, this brain region was more strongly activated during numerical processing when the nonnumerical magnitudes were negatively correlated with numerosity (incongruent trials). In contrast, such an interference effect was not evident during nonnumerical processing when the task-irrelevant numerical magnitude was incongruent. In view of the role of the right TPJ in the control of stimulus-driven attention, we argue that these data demonstrate that the processing of nonnumerical magnitudes is more automatic than that of numerical magnitudes and that, therefore, the influence of numerical and nonnumerical variables on each other is asymmetrical.


2009 ◽  
Vol 48 (175) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suman K Shrestha ◽  
T Nomura ◽  
T Tajiri ◽  
I Akagi ◽  
R Aso ◽  
...  

Introduction: Laparoscopic surgery is unique and complex in nature, so the training is necessarybefore proceeding to operation room. Many computer aided simulators have been developed forthe purpose. Our objective is to assess the improvement of basic laparoscopic skills after training insimulator.Methods: The fi fth year medical students underwent training of three laparoscopic skills usingPromis2 simulator twice weekly for 4-6 weeks. The skills are laparoscopic orientation, target pointingand objects transferring. Time, path length of instruments and economy of movements were recorded.The comparisons were made for these parameters between session fi rst and the last using a Mann-Whitney U test.Results: Ten volunteers completed the exercises in less time (186.3±55.4 seconds) than the fi rstexercise (215.7±57.4 seconds) (P=0.0027). Both the right and left hand instrument path lengths werealso improved from 4425.8±1284.3 mm in the fi rst exercise to 3925.3±1313.6 mm in the last exercisein the left side (P=0.0219) and likewise from 4273.8±1859.4 mm to 3831.3±1717.4 mm in the right side(P=0.0027). Economy of the movement in the left handed instrument improved from 1114.4±453.5mm in the fi rst exercise to 966.8±411.1 mm in the last (P=0.0443) and in the right handed instrumentfrom 845±398.8 mm to 771.4±370.5 mm according to the software of Promis2 simulator (P >0.005).Conclusions: Training in Promis2 simulator improves the basic laparoscopic skills. The candidatesbecome consistently faster with shorter path lengths and had smoother instruments movements.They also became signifi cantly more consistent in their performance.Key Words: laparoscopy, promis2, simulator, training


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document