scholarly journals Attention mediates the influence of numerical magnitude on temporal processing

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anuj Shukla ◽  
Raju S. Bapi
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Processing ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Numerical Magnitude ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Domain Interaction ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Magnitude Processing ◽  
Cross Domain ◽  
Numerical Magnitudes

AbstractThe processing of time and numbers has been fundamental to human cognition. One of the prominent theories of magnitude processing, a theory of magnitude (ATOM), suggests that a generalized magnitude system processes space, time, and numbers; thereby, the magnitude dimensions could potentially interact with one another. However, more recent studies have found support for domain-specific magnitude processing and argued that the magnitudes related to time and number are processed through distinct mechanisms. Such mixed findings have raised questions about whether these magnitudes are processed independently or share a common processing mechanism. In the present study, we examine the influence of numerical magnitude on temporal processing. To investigate, we conducted two experiments using a temporal comparison task, wherein we presented positive and negative numerical magnitudes (large and small) in a blocked (Experiment-1) and intermixed manner (Experiment-2). Results from experiment-1 suggest that numerical magnitude affects temporal processing only in positive numbers but not for negative numbers. Further, results from experiment-2 indicate that the polarity (positive and negative) of the numbers influences temporal processing instead of the numerical magnitude itself. Overall, the current study seems to suggest that cross-domain interaction of magnitudes arises from attentional mechanisms and may not need to posit a common magnitude processing system.

scholarly journals Numerical Magnitude Affects Accuracy but Not Precision of Temporal Judgments

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anuj Shukla ◽  
Raju S. Bapi
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Discrimination ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Duration Discrimination ◽  
Numerical Magnitude ◽  
Temporal Precision ◽  
Common System ◽  
Magnitude Processing ◽  
Numerical Magnitudes ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Weber Ratio

A Theory of Magnitude (ATOM) suggests that space, time, and quantities are processed through a generalized magnitude system. ATOM posits that task-irrelevant magnitudes interfere with the processing of task-relevant magnitudes as all the magnitudes are processed by a common system. Many behavioral and neuroimaging studies have found support in favor of a common magnitude processing system. However, it is largely unknown whether such cross-domain monotonic mapping arises from a change in the accuracy of the magnitude judgments or results from changes in precision of the processing of magnitude. Therefore, in the present study, we examined whether large numerical magnitude affects temporal accuracy or temporal precision, or both. In other words, whether numerical magnitudes change our temporal experience or simply bias duration judgments. The temporal discrimination (between comparison and standard duration) paradigm was used to present numerical magnitudes (“1,” “5,” and “9”) across varied durations. We estimated temporal accuracy (PSE) and precision (Weber ratio) for each numerical magnitude. The results revealed that temporal accuracy (PSE) for large (9) numerical magnitude was significantly lower than that of small (1) and identical (5) magnitudes. This implies that the temporal duration was overestimated for large (9) numerical magnitude compared to small (1) and identical (5) numerical magnitude, in line with ATOM’s prediction. However, no influence of numerical magnitude was observed on temporal precision (Weber ratio). The findings of the present study suggest that task-irrelevant numerical magnitude selectively affects the accuracy of processing of duration but not duration discrimination itself. Further, we argue that numerical magnitude may not directly affect temporal processing but could influence via attentional mechanisms.

Developmental Dyscalculia in Adults: Beyond Numerical Magnitude Impairment

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 600-611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice De Visscher ◽  
Marie-Pascale Noël ◽  
Mauro Pesenti ◽  
Valérie Dormal
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representation ◽  
Healthy Adults ◽  
Numerical Magnitude ◽  
Developmental Dyscalculia ◽  
Common System ◽  
The Core ◽  
Magnitude Processing ◽  
Core Deficit ◽  
Face Categorization ◽  
Numerical Magnitudes

Numerous studies have tried to identify the core deficit of developmental dyscalculia (DD), mainly by assessing a possible deficit of the mental representation of numerical magnitude. Research in healthy adults has shown that numerosity, duration, and space share a partly common system of magnitude processing and representation. However, in DD, numerosity processing has until now received much more attention than the processing of other non-numerical magnitudes. To assess whether or not the processing of non-numerical magnitudes is impaired in DD, the performance of 15 adults with DD and 15 control participants was compared in four categorization tasks using numerosities, lengths, durations, and faces (as non-magnitude-based control stimuli). Results showed that adults with DD were impaired in processing numerosity and duration, while their performance in length and face categorization did not differ from controls’ performance. Our findings support the idea of a nonsymbolic magnitude deficit in DD, affecting numerosity and duration processing but not length processing.

scholarly journals Symbols are special: An fMRI adaptation study of symbolic, nonsymbolic and non-numerical magnitude processing in the human brain

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Moriah Sokolowski ◽  
Zachary Hawes ◽  
Lien Peters ◽  
Daniel Ansari
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Number Processing ◽  
Numerical Magnitude ◽  
Physical Size ◽  
Parietal Lobes ◽  
Magnitude Processing ◽  
The Right ◽  
Fmri Adaptation ◽  
Symbolic Number

Humans have the unique ability to represent and manipulate symbols. It is widely believed that this ability is rooted in an evolutionarily ancient system used to process nonsymbolic quantities in the human brain. In the current study, we used an fMRI adaptation paradigm to isolate the representations of symbols, quantities, and physical size in forty-five human adults. Results indicate that the neural correlates supporting symbolic number processing are entirely distinct from those supporting nonsymbolic magnitude processing. At the univariate level, symbolic number processing is associated with activation in the left inferior parietal lobule, whereas the processing of nonsymbolic magnitudes (both quantity and physical size), relates to activation in the right intraparietal sulcus. At the multivariate level, normalized patterns of activation for symbolic number processing exhibit a dissimilar pattern of activation compared to nonsymbolic magnitude processing in both the left and right parietal lobes. Additionally, the patterns of activation that associate with quantity and physical size are practically indistinguishable from one another. These findings challenge the longstanding belief that the culturally acquired ability to conceptualize symbolic numbers is rooted in an evolutionarily ancient system for nonsymbolic magnitude processing. Moreover, these data reveal that the system used to process nonsymbolic numbers may actually be a general magnitude processing system used to process numerical and non-numerical magnitudes. These findings highlight the need for the field to shift away from exploring how symbols are grounded in analog nonsymbolic representations, and toward more complex questions related to the neural consequences of learning symbolic numbers.

Asymmetric Processing of Numerical and Nonnumerical Magnitudes in the Brain: An fMRI Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tali Leibovich ◽  
Stephan E. Vogel ◽  
Avishai Henik ◽  
Daniel Ansari
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Magnitude ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Surface Areas ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Numerical Magnitudes ◽  
The Right ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
The Brain

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.

scholarly journals Predicting Mathematical Learning Difficulties Status: The Role of Domain-Specific and Domain-General Skills

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riikka Mononen ◽  
Markku Niemivirta ◽  
Johan Korhonen
Keyword(s):  
Learning Difficulties ◽  
Rapid Automatized Naming ◽  
Numerical Magnitude ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Magnitude Processing ◽  
The Status ◽  
General Skills ◽  
Grade 3 ◽  
Nonverbal Reasoning ◽  
Mathematical Learning Difficulties

This study investigated which domain-specific and domain-general skills measured at grade 1 predict mathematical learning difficulties (MLD) status at grade 3. We used different cut-off criteria and measures of mathematics performance for defining the MLD status. Norwegian children’s (N = 206) numeracy, cognitive, and language skills were measured at grade 1 and arithmetic fluency and curriculum-based mathematics (CBM) at grade 3. Logistic regression analyses showed that symbolic numerical magnitude processing, verbal counting, and rapid automatized naming predicted MLD25 status (performance ≤ 25th percentile) based on arithmetic fluency, whereas verbal counting skills and nonverbal reasoning predicted the status based on CBM. The same predictors were found for MLD10 status (performance ≤ 10th percentile), and in addition, rapid automatized naming predicted the status based on CBM. Only symbolic numerical magnitude processing and verbal counting predicted LOW status (performance between 11–25th percentile) based on arithmetic fluency, whereas nonverbal reasoning and working memory when the status was based on CBM. Different cut-off scores and mathematics measures used for the definition of MLD status are important to acknowledge, as those seem to lead to different early domain-specific and domain-general predictors of MLD.

scholarly journals Nonsymbolic and Symbolic Numerical Magnitude Processing in the Brazilian Children with Mathematics Difficulties

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 524-532
Author(s):  
Isabella Starling-Alves ◽  
Annelise Júlio-Costa ◽  
Ricardo José de Moura ◽  
Vitor Geraldi Haase
Keyword(s):  
School Age Children ◽  
Numerical Magnitude ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Arithmetic Task ◽  
Magnitude Comparison ◽  
Magnitude Processing ◽  
Mathematics Difficulties ◽  
Mathematical Difficulties ◽  
Low Performance ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACT It is still debated if the main deficit in mathematical difficulties (MD) is nonsymbolic or symbolic numerical magnitude processing. Objectives: In the present study, our main goal was to investigate nonsymbolic and symbolic numerical magnitude processing in MD and the relationship between these abilities and arithmetic. Methods: The Brazilian school-age children with MD completed a nonsymbolic and a symbolic numerical magnitude comparison task and an arithmetic task. We compared their performance with a group of children with typical achievement (TA) and investigated the association between numerical magnitude processing and arithmetic with a series of regression analyses. Results: Results indicated that children with MD had low performance in the nonsymbolic numerical magnitude comparison task. Performance in both nonsymbolic and symbolic numerical magnitude comparison tasks predicted arithmetic abilities in children with TA, but not in children with MD. Conclusions: These results indicate that children with MD have difficulties in nonsymbolic numerical magnitude processing, and do not engage basic numerical magnitude representations to solve arithmetic.

scholarly journals Temporal Processing Capacity in High-Level Visual Cortex Is Domain Specific

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (36) ◽  
pp. 12412-12424 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Stigliani ◽  
K. S. Weiner ◽  
K. Grill-Spector
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Temporal Processing ◽  
Processing Capacity ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
High Level

scholarly journals Magnitude integration in the Archerfish

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tali Leibovich-Raveh ◽  
Ashael Raveh ◽  
Dana Vilker ◽  
Shai Gabay
Keyword(s):  
Animal Model ◽  
Grocery Store ◽  
The Body ◽  
Water Tank ◽  
Comparison Task ◽  
Magnitude Comparison ◽  
Mathematical Abilities ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Numerical Magnitudes ◽  
Shortest Queue

AbstractWe make magnitude-related decisions every day, for example, to choose the shortest queue at the grocery store. When making such decisions, which magnitudes do we consider? The dominant theory suggests that our focus is on numerical quantity, i.e., the number of items in a set. This theory leads to quantity-focused research suggesting that discriminating quantities is automatic, innate, and is the basis for mathematical abilities in humans. Another theory suggests, instead, that non-numerical magnitudes, such as the total area of the compared items, are usually what humans rely on, and numerical quantity is used only when required. Since wild animals must make quick magnitude-related decisions to eat, seek shelter, survive, and procreate, studying which magnitudes animals spontaneously use in magnitude-related decisions is a good way to study the relative primacy of numerical quantity versus non-numerical magnitudes. We asked whether, in an animal model, the influence of non-numerical magnitudes on performance in a spontaneous magnitude comparison task is modulated by the number of non-numerical magnitudes that positively correlate with numerical quantity. Our animal model was the Archerfish, a fish that, in the wild, hunts insects by shooting a jet of water at them. These fish were trained to shoot water at artificial targets presented on a computer screen above the water tank. We tested the Archerfish's performance in spontaneous, untrained two-choice magnitude decisions. We found that the fish tended to select the group containing larger non-numerical magnitudes and smaller quantities of dots. The fish selected the group containing more dots mostly when the quantity of the dots was positively correlated with all five different non-numerical magnitudes. The current study adds to the body of studies providing direct evidence that in some cases animals’ magnitude-related decisions are more affected by non-numerical magnitudes than by numerical quantity, putting doubt on the claims that numerical quantity perception is the most basic building block of mathematical abilities.

scholarly journals Symbolic Numerical Magnitude Processing Is as Important to Arithmetic as Phonological Awareness Is to Reading

PLoS ONE ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. e0151045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiran Vanbinst ◽  
Daniel Ansari ◽  
Pol Ghesquière ◽  
Bert De Smedt
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Numerical Magnitude ◽  
Magnitude Processing

scholarly journals DISSECT: DISentangle SharablE ConTent for Multimodal Integration and Crosswise-mapping

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Schau ◽  
Erik Burlingame ◽  
Young Hwan Chang
Keyword(s):  
Deep Learning ◽  
Complete Information ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Multimodal Integration ◽  
Specific Data ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Cross Domain ◽  
Input Feature ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Latent Representations

AbstractDeep learning systems have emerged as powerful mechanisms for learning domain translation models. However, in many cases, complete information in one domain is assumed to be necessary for sufficient cross-domain prediction. In this work, we motivate a formal justification for domain-specific information separation in a simple linear case and illustrate that a self-supervised approach enables domain translation between data domains while filtering out domain-specific data features. We introduce a novel approach to identify domainspecific information from sets of unpaired measurements in complementary data domains by considering a deep learning cross-domain autoencoder architecture designed to learn shared latent representations of data while enabling domain translation. We introduce an orthogonal gate block designed to enforce orthogonality of input feature sets by explicitly removing non-sharable information specific to each domain and illustrate separability of domain-specific information on a toy dataset.

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