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Heed the signs: Operation signs have spatial associations.

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  • 1a Department of Psychology , Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , Beer-Sheva , Israel.

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Arithmetic operation signs like plus and minus evoke spatial associations, influencing mental arithmetic performance. This operation sign spatial association (OSSA) effect partially explains spatial biases in numerical tasks.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Experimental Psychology

Background:

  • The spatial association between numbers and space is well-established in cognitive research.
  • However, the potential spatial associations of arithmetic operation signs remain largely unexplored.
  • Investigating this could clarify the mechanisms behind spatial biases in mental arithmetic.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if arithmetic operation signs (plus and minus) possess inherent spatial associations.
  • To examine whether these operation sign spatial associations (OSSA) contribute to spatial biases observed in mental arithmetic.
  • To explore the underlying causes of OSSA, potentially linking it to arithmetic experience.

Main Methods:

  • Adult participants performed tasks classifying plus and minus signs using left/right button presses.
  • Two experiments employed counterbalanced response rules to assess reaction times.
  • A control experiment evaluated sign-related biases without explicit sign processing demands.

Main Results:

  • Participants responded faster to spatially congruent sign-response pairings (e.g., plus-right, minus-left) than incongruent ones.
  • A significant operation sign spatial association (OSSA) effect was identified.
  • The OSSA effect showed correlations with other spatial biases in number processing.
  • No sign-related spatial biases emerged in the control experiment.

Conclusions:

  • Arithmetic operation signs can indeed evoke spatial associations (OSSA).
  • This OSSA is likely rooted in an individual's experience with arithmetic operations.
  • The OSSA effect contributes only partially to the broader spatial biases observed in mental arithmetic tasks.