Chesney Dana
Department of Psychology, St. John's University, 8000 Utopia Pkwy, Jamaica, NY, 11439, USA.
Atten Percept Psychophys. 2018 Jul;80(5):1057-1063. doi: 10.3758/s13414-018-1515-x.
Individual differences in the ability to compare and evaluate nonsymbolic numerical magnitudes-approximate number system (ANS) acuity-are emerging as an important predictor in many research areas. Unfortunately, recent empirical studies have called into question whether a historically common ANS-acuity metric-the size of the numerical distance effect (NDE size)-is an effective measure of ANS acuity. NDE size has been shown to frequently yield divergent results from other ANS-acuity metrics. Given these concerns and the measure's past popularity, it behooves us to question whether the use of NDE size as an ANS-acuity metric is theoretically supported. This study seeks to address this gap in the literature by using modeling to test the basic assumption underpinning use of NDE size as an ANS-acuity metric: that larger NDE size indicates poorer ANS acuity. This assumption did not hold up under test. Results demonstrate that the theoretically ideal relationship between NDE size and ANS acuity is not linear, but rather resembles an inverted J-shaped distribution, with the inflection points varying based on precise NDE task methodology. Thus, depending on specific methodology and the distribution of ANS acuity in the tested population, positive, negative, or null correlations between NDE size and ANS acuity could be predicted. Moreover, peak NDE sizes would be found for near-average ANS acuities on common NDE tasks. This indicates that NDE size has limited and inconsistent utility as an ANS-acuity metric. Past results should be interpreted on a case-by-case basis, considering both specifics of the NDE task and expected ANS acuity of the sampled population.
在比较和评估非符号数字大小的能力——近似数字系统（ANS）敏锐度方面的个体差异，正成为许多研究领域的一个重要预测指标。不幸的是，最近的实证研究对一种历史上常用的ANS敏锐度指标——数字距离效应的大小（NDE大小）——是否是ANS敏锐度的有效度量提出了质疑。研究表明，NDE大小常常会产生与其他ANS敏锐度指标不同的结果。鉴于这些问题以及该指标过去的受欢迎程度，我们有必要质疑将NDE大小用作ANS敏锐度指标在理论上是否有依据。本研究旨在通过建模来检验将NDE大小用作ANS敏锐度指标所依据的基本假设，以填补文献中的这一空白：即NDE大小越大表明ANS敏锐度越差。这一假设在测试中并不成立。结果表明，NDE大小与ANS敏锐度之间理论上的理想关系不是线性的，而是类似于倒J形分布，其拐点会根据精确的NDE任务方法而有所不同。因此，根据具体方法和测试人群中ANS敏锐度的分布情况，可以预测NDE大小与ANS敏锐度之间存在正相关、负相关或无相关性。此外，在常见的NDE任务中，接近平均ANS敏锐度时会发现NDE大小的峰值。这表明NDE大小作为ANS敏锐度指标的效用有限且不一致。过去的结果应根据具体情况进行解释，同时考虑NDE任务的具体细节和抽样人群的预期ANS敏锐度。
