What can size tell us about abstract conceptual processing?

Embodied cognition theories propose that abstract concepts can be embodied via metaphorical extensions from experiences of the physical or the mental worlds. In three experiments, we explored how semantic size (e.g., the magnitude, dimension or extent of an object or a concept) of abstract concepts is mentally represented. We show that abstract size is metaphorically associated with the physical size of concrete objects (Experiment 1) and can produce a semantic-font size congruency effect comparable to that demonstrated in concrete words during online lexical processing (Experiment 2). Critically, this size congruency effect is large when a word is judged by its size but significantly smaller when it is judged by its emotionality (Experiment 3). Our results suggest that semantic size of abstract concepts can be represented in physical size and that such experiences are variably engaged under different task demands. The present findings advocate flexible embodiment of semantic representations, with an emphasis on the role of task effects on conceptual processing.

The relationship between the height dimension and numerical processing

It is well documented that the ability to perceive numbers depends on perception of size. However, size consists of two different dimensions: height and width. In previous size-congruency experiments, the changes in the size dimension were confounded by changes in both the height and width dimensions. Hence, it is not clear if two digits that are equal in size but with different width and height produce a congruency effect and if so, which dimension (height or width) will be associated with quantity more prominently. In fact, different theories might predict different outcomes for the association of height versus width with numbers. To resolve this issue, this study included two experiments in which two equal-size digits that differed from each other in the height and width dimensions were presented and participants were asked to decide which digit is numerically larger. The results revealed a novel congruency effect in which larger numbers are associated more prominently with the height dimension when compared with the width dimension. This effect has important implications for understanding the relationship between number processing and the spatial perception system.

Two Attributes of Number Meaning

Many studies demonstrated interactions between number processing and either spatial codes (effects of spatial-numerical associations) or visual size-related codes (size-congruity effect). However, the interrelatedness of these two number couplings is still unclear. The present study examines the simultaneous occurrence of space- and size-numerical congruency effects and their interactions both within and across trials. In a magnitude judgment task physically small or large digits were presented left or right from screen center. The reaction times analysis revealed that space- and size-congruency effects coexisted in parallel and combined additively. Moreover, a selective sequential modulation of the two congruency effects was found. The size-congruency effect was reduced after size incongruent trials. The space-congruency effect, however, was only affected by the previous space congruency. The observed independence of spatial-numerical and within-magnitude associations is interpreted as evidence that the two couplings reflect different attributes of numerical meaning possibly related to ordinality and cardinality.

The Inhibitory Advantage in Bilingual Children Revisited

In recent decades several authors have suggested that bilinguals exhibit enhanced cognitive control as compared to monolinguals and some proposals suggest that this main difference between monolinguals and bilinguals is related to bilinguals’ enhanced capacity of inhibiting irrelevant information. This has led to the proposal of the so-called bilingual advantage in inhibitory skills. However, recent studies have cast some doubt on the locus and generality of the alleged bilingual advantage in inhibitory skills. In the current study we investigated inhibitory skills in a large sample of 252 monolingual and 252 bilingual children who were carefully matched on a large number of indices. We tested their performance in a verbal Stroop task and in a nonverbal version of the same task (the number size-congruency task). Results were unequivocal and showed that bilingual and monolingual participants performed equally in these two tasks across all the indices or markers of inhibitory skills explored. Furthermore, the lack of differences between monolingual and bilingual children extended to all the age ranges tested and was not modulated by any of the independent factors investigated. In light of these results, we conclude that bilingual children do not exhibit any specific advantage in simple inhibitory tasks as compared to monolinguals.

Primitives and Non-primitives of Numerical Representations

Primitives of numerical representation are numbers holistically represented on the mental number line (MNL). Non-primitives are numbers generated from primitives in order to perform specific tasks. Primitives can be automatically retrieved from long-term memory (LTM). Using the size congruency effect in physical comparisons as a marker of automatic retrieval, and its modulation by intrapair numerical distance as an indication of alignment along the MNL, we identify single-digits, but not two-digit numbers, as primitives. By the same criteria, zero is a primitive, but negative numbers are not primitives, which makes zero the smallest numerical primitive. Due to their unique notational structure, fractions are automatically perceived as smaller than 1. While some specific, familiar unit fractions may be primitives, this can be shown only when component bias is eliminated by training participants to denote fractions by unfamiliar figures.

Across-Notation Automatic Processing of Two-Digit Numbers

The existence of across-notation automatic numerical processing of two-digit (2D) numbers was explored using size comparisons tasks. Participants were Arabic speakers, who use two sets of numerical symbols – Arabic and Indian. They were presented with pairs of 2D numbers in the same or in mixed notations. Responses for a numerical comparison task were affected by decade difference and unit-decade compatibility and global distance in both conditions, extending previous findings with Arabic digits ( Nuerk, Weger, & Willmes, 2001 ). Responses for a physical comparison task were affected by congruency with the numerical size, as indicated by the size congruency effect (SiCE). The SiCE was affected by unit-decade compatibility but not by global distance, thus suggesting that the units and decades digits of the 2D numbers, but not the whole number value were automatically translated into a common representation of magnitude. The presence of similar results for same- and mixed-notation pairs supports the idea of an abstract representation of magnitude.