Hamamouche Karina, Keefe Maura, Jordan Kerry E, Cordes Sara
Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, United States.
Department of Psychology, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States.
Front Psychol. 2018 Oct 2;9:1783. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01783. eCollection 2018.
Prominent theories suggest that time and number are processed by a single neural locus or a common magnitude system (e.g., Meck and Church, 1983; Walsh, 2003). However, a growing body of literature has identified numerous inconsistencies between temporal and numerical processing, casting doubt on the presence of such a singular system. Findings of distinct temporal and numerical biases in the presence of emotional content (Baker et al., 2013; Young and Cordes, 2013) are particularly relevant to this debate. Specifically, emotional stimuli lead to temporal estimation, yet identical stimuli result in numerical estimation. In the current study, we tested adults' temporal and numerical processing under cognitive load, a task that compromises attention. Under the premise of a common magnitude system, one would predict cognitive load to have an identical impact on temporal and numerical judgments. Inconsistent with the common magnitude account, results revealed baseline performance on the temporal and numerical task was not correlated and importantly, cognitive load resulted in distinct and opposing quantity biases: numerical underestimation and marginal temporal overestimation. Together, our data call into question the common magnitude account, while also providing support for the role of attentional processes involved in numerical underestimation.
主流理论认为，时间和数字由单一神经位点或共同的量级系统进行处理（例如，梅克和丘奇，1983年；沃尔什，2003年）。然而，越来越多的文献发现时间处理和数字处理之间存在诸多不一致之处，这让人对是否存在这样一个单一系统产生怀疑。在存在情感内容的情况下发现的不同时间和数字偏差（贝克等人，2013年；杨和科德斯，2013年）与这场辩论尤为相关。具体而言，情感刺激会导致时间估计，而相同的刺激会导致数字估计。在本研究中，我们测试了成年人在认知负荷（一项会损害注意力的任务）下的时间和数字处理能力。在共同量级系统的前提下，人们会预测认知负荷对时间和数字判断有相同的影响。与共同量级理论不符的是，结果显示时间任务和数字任务的基线表现并无关联，重要的是，认知负荷导致了不同且相反的数量偏差：数字低估和轻微的时间高估。总之，我们的数据对共同量级理论提出了质疑，同时也为注意力过程在数字低估中所起的作用提供了支持。
