Ward Jamie, Sagiv Noam, Butterworth Brian
Department of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
Cortex. 2009 Nov-Dec;45(10):1261-5. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2009.03.017. Epub 2009 Jul 7.
Number forms, conscious visuo-spatial representations of the sequence of numbers, are found in around 12% of the population. However, their contribution to numerical cognition is not well understood. In this study we contrast the speeded performance of individuals with number forms versus controls on single digit multiplication, subtraction and addition. Previous research has suggested that multiplication may rely more on retrieval of verbal facts whereas subtraction relies more on online calculation using a putatively spatial 'mental number line'. If people with number forms rely more heavily on visual-spatial strategies than verbal ones then we hypothesised that multiplication may be disproportionately affected by this strategy relative to subtraction, and this was found.
数字形态，即数字序列的有意识视觉空间表征，在大约12%的人口中存在。然而，它们对数字认知的贡献尚未得到很好的理解。在本研究中，我们对比了具有数字形态的个体与对照组在个位数乘法、减法和加法运算中的快速表现。先前的研究表明，乘法可能更多地依赖于言语事实的检索，而减法更多地依赖于使用假定的空间“心理数字线”进行在线计算。如果具有数字形态的人比言语策略更依赖视觉空间策略，那么我们假设乘法可能相对于减法受到这种策略的影响更大，事实也的确如此。
