Copernicus Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
Clinic of Neurology, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 13;10(1):11531. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-68202-z.
The numerical distance effect (it is easier to compare numbers that are further apart) and size effect (for a constant distance, it is easier to compare smaller numbers) characterize symbolic number processing. However, evidence for a relationship between these two basic phenomena and more complex mathematical skills is mixed. Previously this relationship has only been studied in participants with normal or poor mathematical skills, not in mathematicians. Furthermore, the prevalence of these effects at the individual level is not known. Here we compared professional mathematicians, engineers, social scientists, and a reference group using the symbolic magnitude classification task with single-digit Arabic numbers. The groups did not differ with respect to symbolic numerical distance and size effects in either frequentist or Bayesian analyses. Moreover, we looked at their prevalence at the individual level using the bootstrapping method: while a reliable numerical distance effect was present in almost all participants, the prevalence of a reliable numerical size effect was much lower. Again, prevalence did not differ between groups. In summary, the phenomena were neither more pronounced nor more prevalent in mathematicians, suggesting that extremely high mathematical skills neither rely on nor have special consequences for analogue processing of symbolic numerical magnitudes.
数字距离效应（比较相距较远的数字更容易）和大小效应（对于固定的距离，比较小的数字更容易）是符号数字处理的特征。然而，关于这两种基本现象与更复杂的数学技能之间的关系的证据是混杂的。以前，这种关系仅在具有正常或较差数学技能的参与者中进行了研究，而没有在数学家群体中进行研究。此外，个体水平上这些效应的普遍性尚不清楚。在这里，我们使用带有一位阿拉伯数字的符号大小分类任务比较了专业数学家、工程师、社会科学家和一个参照组。在经典和贝叶斯分析中，各组在符号数字距离和大小效应方面没有差异。此外，我们使用自举法研究了个体水平上的流行程度：虽然几乎所有参与者都存在可靠的数字距离效应，但可靠的数字大小效应的流行程度要低得多。同样，组间差异也不显著。总之，这些现象在数学家群体中既不明显也不常见，这表明极高的数学技能既不依赖于也不会对符号数字大小的模拟处理产生特殊影响。
