Pasqualotto Achille, Taya Shuichiro, Proulx Michael J
Department of Psychology, University of Bath, United Kingdom; School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom; Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Sabanci University, Turkey.
Department of Human Science, Taisho University, Japan.
Behav Brain Res. 2014 Mar 15;261:110-3. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2013.12.017. Epub 2013 Dec 16.
Early studies on numeric cognition reported that numbers are spatially organised according to a left-to-right small-to-large 'number line'. We investigated whether this spatial-number organisation is dictated by visual experience. We tested congenitally and late blind, and blindfolded sighted participants in a random number generation task where in one block their heads were alternately turned left or right before uttering the number. We found that the 'random' number generation was biased according to the side where the head was turned to. Consistent with the standard number line, participants with visual experience generated smaller numbers for left turns, and larger numbers for right turns. In contrast, participants without any visual experience showed the opposite pattern of results. These results suggest a role for visual experience in the development of spatial and numerical representations, which is supported by cultural differences in number representation, and provide converging evidence for visually driven organisation of the parietal cortex.
早期关于数字认知的研究报告称，数字在空间上是按照从左到右、从小到大的“数字线”进行组织的。我们研究了这种空间数字组织是否由视觉经验决定。我们对先天性失明、后天失明以及蒙眼的视力正常参与者进行了一项随机数字生成任务测试，在一个实验块中，他们在说出数字之前头部会交替向左或向右转。我们发现，“随机”数字生成存在偏向，偏向于头部转动的方向。与标准数字线一致，有视觉经验的参与者向左转时生成较小的数字，向右转时生成较大的数字。相比之下，没有任何视觉经验的参与者表现出相反的结果模式。这些结果表明视觉经验在空间和数字表征的发展中发挥作用，这得到了数字表征文化差异的支持，并为顶叶皮层的视觉驱动组织提供了汇聚证据。
