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Perceiving numbers influences actions in number-space synesthesia.

Isabel Arend¹, Limor Gertner, Avishai Henik

¹Department of Psychology and Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel. arend.psy@gmail.com

Cortex; a Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior

|July 18, 2012

Summary

Number-space synesthetes (NSS) show that numbers are linked to actions. Their unique spatial number representations influence behavior even when numbers aren't relevant to the task.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive psychology
Neuroscience
Human perception

Background:

Human cognition often links numbers and space, visualized as a mental number line.
Number-space synesthetes (NSS) possess explicit, idiosyncratic spatial representations of numbers.
The influence of these automatic spatial associations on action, even for task-irrelevant numbers, is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether the spatial-numerical associations in NSS affect actions when numbers are not task-relevant.
To explore the cognitive representation of numbers as action codes.

Main Methods:

A Simon task was employed, presenting task-irrelevant Arabic numerals alongside colored targets.
Participants included 15 age-matched controls and 4 NSS.
A 2x2 within-subjects design analyzed reaction times (RTs) across Simon (compatible/incompatible) and number-space (congruent/incongruent) conditions.

Main Results:

NSS exhibited altered reaction times influenced by number-space mapping compared to controls.
Synesthetes demonstrated delayed Simon effects, indicating a stronger impact of numerical-spatial associations.
Reaction times and RT cumulative distribution functions revealed significant differences between groups and conditions.

Conclusions:

Numbers are cognitively represented as action codes.
The strength of the number-space association significantly shapes the impact of numerical representations on an individual's actions.
These findings highlight the automatic and action-guiding nature of numerical-spatial representations in NSS.