Krajcsi Attila
Department of Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2017 Jun;24(3):927-934. doi: 10.3758/s13423-016-1175-6.
Numerical distance and size effects (easier number comparisons with large distance or small size) are mostly supposed to reflect a single effect, the ratio effect, which is a consequence of activation of the analog number system (ANS), working according to Weber's law. In an alternative model, symbolic numbers can be processed by a discrete semantic system (DSS), in which the distance and size effects could originate in two independent factors: the distance effect depending on the semantic distance of the units, and the size effect depending on the frequency of the symbols. Whereas in the classic view both symbolic and nonsymbolic numbers are processed by the ANS, in the alternative view only nonsymbolic numbers are processed by the ANS, but symbolic numbers are handled by the DSS. The present work contrasts the two views, investigating whether the sizes of the distance and size effects correlate in nonsymbolic dot comparison and in symbolic Indo-Arabic comparison tasks. If a comparison is backed by the ANS, the distance and size effects should correlate, because the two effects are merely two ways to measure the same ratio effect. However, if a comparison is supported by another system-for example, the DSS-the two effects might dissociate. In the present measurements, the distance and size effects correlated very strongly in the dot comparison task, but they did not correlate in the Indo-Arabic comparison task. Additionally, the effects did not correlate between the Indo-Arabic and dot comparison tasks. These results suggest that symbolic number comparison is not handled by the ANS, but by an alternative representation, such as the DSS.
数值距离和大小效应（数字距离大或数字大小小时更容易进行数字比较）大多被认为反映了一种单一效应，即比率效应，这是模拟数字系统（ANS）激活的结果，该系统按照韦伯定律运行。在另一种模型中，符号数字可由离散语义系统（DSS）处理，其中距离和大小效应可能源于两个独立因素：距离效应取决于单位的语义距离，大小效应取决于符号的频率。在经典观点中，符号数字和非符号数字均由ANS处理，而在另一种观点中，只有非符号数字由ANS处理，符号数字则由DSS处理。本研究对这两种观点进行了对比，调查在非符号点比较任务和符号印度-阿拉伯数字比较任务中，距离效应和大小效应的大小是否相关。如果比较由ANS支持，那么距离效应和大小效应应该相关，因为这两种效应只是测量同一比率效应的两种方式。然而，如果比较由另一个系统（例如DSS）支持，那么这两种效应可能会分离。在本测量中，距离效应和大小效应在点比较任务中高度相关，但在印度-阿拉伯数字比较任务中不相关。此外，印度-阿拉伯数字比较任务和点比较任务之间的效应也不相关。这些结果表明，符号数字比较不是由ANS处理，而是由一种替代表征（如DSS）处理。
