Reynvoet Bert, De Smedt Bert, Van den Bussche Eva
Department of Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2009 Aug;103(4):480-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2009.01.007. Epub 2009 Mar 13.
The comparison distance effect (CDE), whereby discriminating between two numbers that are far apart is easier than discriminating between two numbers that are close, has been considered as an important indicator of how people represent magnitudes internally. However, the underlying mechanism of this CDE is still unclear. We tried to shed further light on how people represent magnitudes by using priming. Adults have been shown to exhibit a priming distance effect (PDE), whereby numbers are processed faster when they are preceded by a close number than when they are preceded by a more distant number. Surprisingly, there are no studies available that have investigated this effect in children. The current study examined this effect in typically developing first, third, and fifth graders and in adults. Our findings revealed that the PDE already occurs in first graders and remains stable across development. This study also documents the usefulness of number priming in children, making it an interesting tool for future research.
比较距离效应（CDE），即区分两个距离较远的数字比区分两个距离较近的数字更容易，被认为是人们在内部如何表征数量大小的一个重要指标。然而，这种比较距离效应的潜在机制仍不清楚。我们试图通过启动效应来进一步阐明人们是如何表征数量大小的。研究表明，成年人会表现出启动距离效应（PDE），即当数字之前是一个相近的数字时，比之前是一个距离更远的数字时，处理速度更快。令人惊讶的是，目前尚无研究对儿童的这种效应进行调查。本研究对发育正常的一年级、三年级和五年级学生以及成年人的这种效应进行了考察。我们的研究结果显示，启动距离效应在一年级学生中就已出现，且在整个发育过程中保持稳定。本研究还证明了数字启动效应在儿童中的有用性，使其成为未来研究的一个有趣工具。
