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Related Experiment Videos

The number line effect reflects top-down control.

Jelena Ristic1, Alissa Wright, Alan Kingstone

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. jelena.ristic@telus.net

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|March 3, 2007
PubMed
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Spatial attention shifts triggered by numbers are flexible and depend on mental number line orientation. Participants can reverse or abolish number line effects by adopting different top-down spatial mental sets.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Spatial Cognition

Background:

  • Central directional stimuli like eyes and arrows rapidly shift spatial attention.
  • Previous research suggested numbers might also orient attention along a mental number line.
  • The orienting effect for digits is slower than for eyes/arrows, implying top-down control.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of top-down endogenous processes in number-guided spatial attention.
  • To examine the flexibility of spatial representations and attentional orienting related to digits.
  • To test whether mental sets influence the direction of attention based on number perception.

Main Methods:

  • Replication of the left-to-right mental number line effect with central digits.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Manipulation of mental number line orientation (left-to-right vs. right-to-left).
  • Testing attentional orienting with targets in various locations and with different mental sets (e.g., imagining a clock).

    • Main Results:

    • The left-to-right number line effect was replicated.
    • Reversing the imagined number line direction completely reversed the attentional effect.
    • Presenting targets in different locations or adopting alternative mental sets (like a clock face) abolished or altered the number line effect.

    Conclusions:

    • Spatial attention guided by digits is not reflexive but mediated by flexible, top-down spatial mental sets.
    • Individuals can consciously adopt mental representations (e.g., number lines, clock faces) that dictate attentional orienting.
    • The perception and spatial representation of digits are highly malleable based on cognitive strategies.