Embodied length gesture perception generates numerical semantics: An ERP study

The sensorimotor system is critical for number cognition, as embodied numerosity is linked to sensorimotor experiences. Despite evidence that hand movements engage numerical semantics, there has been little investigation into the relationship between hand motion and numerical activation, as well as actions and abstract number conceptions. In order to examine how perceived magnitude affects numerical judgments, participants in the current study were given variable-length gestures and asked to complete a numerical comparison task while having their EEG records taken. The results showed that embodied, semi-embodied, and non-embodied materials differed significantly, with the embodied influence being the strongest. In the frontal, fronto-central, central, and centro-parietal regions, the embodied effect activated the P2 component, showing that increases in both length and magnitude produced higher P2 responses. Additionally, greater P2p activation was observed in the left parietal-occipital region under embodied and semi-embodied conditions. These results supported the embodied numerosity perspective and showed that the perception of embodied length gestures affects quantitative judgments, implying that the body implicitly conveys numerical magnitudes.