Maloney Erin A, Risko Evan F, Preston Frank, Ansari Daniel, Fugelsang Jonathan
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Canada.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2010 Jun;134(2):154-61. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.01.006. Epub 2010 Feb 24.
The numerical distance effect (NDE) is one of the most robust effects in the study of numerical cognition. However, the validity and reliability of distance effects across different formats and paradigms has not been assessed. Establishing whether the distance effect is both reliable and valid has important implications for the use of this paradigm to index the processing and representation of numerical magnitude in both behavioral and neuroimaging studies. In light of this, we examine the reliability and validity of frequently employed variants (and one new variant) of the numerical comparison task: two symbolic comparison variants and two nonsymbolic comparison variants. The results of two experiments demonstrate that measures of the NDE that use nonsymbolic stimuli are far more reliable than measures of the NDE that use symbolic stimuli. With respect to correlations between measures, we find evidence that the NDE that arises using symbolic stimuli is uncorrelated with the NDE that is elicited by using nonsymbolic stimuli. Results are discussed with respect to their implications for the use of the NDE as a metric of numerical processing and representation in research with both children and adults.
数值距离效应（NDE）是数值认知研究中最稳健的效应之一。然而，不同形式和范式下距离效应的有效性和可靠性尚未得到评估。确定距离效应是否既可靠又有效，对于在行为和神经成像研究中使用该范式来索引数值大小的处理和表征具有重要意义。有鉴于此，我们考察了数值比较任务中常用变体（以及一种新变体）的可靠性和有效性：两种符号比较变体和两种非符号比较变体。两项实验的结果表明，使用非符号刺激的NDE测量比使用符号刺激的NDE测量可靠得多。关于测量之间的相关性，我们发现有证据表明，使用符号刺激产生的NDE与使用非符号刺激引发的NDE不相关。我们将结合这些结果对NDE在儿童和成人研究中作为数值处理和表征指标的应用意义进行讨论。
