Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY), Université Catholique de Louvain, Place Cardinal Mercier 10, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Institute of Cognitive Science and Assessment, Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Social and Educational Sciences, Université du Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2024 Oct;31(5):2266-2274. doi: 10.3758/s13423-024-02480-w. Epub 2024 Mar 11.
While humans can readily access the common magnitude of various codes such as digits, number words, or dot sets, it remains unclear whether this process occurs automatically, or only when explicitly attending to magnitude information. We addressed this question by examining the neural distance effect, a robust marker of magnitude processing, with a frequency-tagging approach. Electrophysiological responses were recorded while participants viewed rapid sequences of a base numerosity presented at 6 Hz (e.g., "2") in randomly mixed codes: digits, number words, canonical dot, and finger configurations. A deviant numerosity either close (e.g., "3") or distant (e.g., "8") from the base was inserted every five items. Participants were instructed to focus their attention either on the magnitude number feature (from a previous study), the parity number feature, a nonnumerical color feature or no specific feature. In the four attentional conditions, we found clear discrimination responses of the deviant numerosity despite its code variation. Critically, the distance effect (larger responses when base/deviant are distant than close) was present when participants were explicitly attending to magnitude and parity, but it faded with color and simple viewing instructions. Taken together, these results suggest automatic access to an abstract number representation but highlight the role of selective attention in processing the underlying magnitude information. This study therefore provides insights into how attention can modulate the neural activity supporting abstract magnitude processing.
虽然人类可以轻松地获取各种代码的常见数量，例如数字、数字单词或点集，但目前尚不清楚这个过程是自动发生的，还是只有在明确关注数量信息时才会发生。我们通过使用频率标记方法研究神经距离效应来解决这个问题，这是一种强大的数量处理标志物。当参与者以 6 Hz 的速度观看快速呈现的基数数量序列（例如“2”）时，会记录到电生理反应，这些序列随机混合了数字、数字单词、标准点和手指配置。每隔五个项目就会插入一个与基数接近（例如“3”）或遥远（例如“8”）的偏差数量。参与者被指示专注于数量特征（来自之前的研究）、奇偶数量特征、非数字颜色特征或没有特定特征。在这四种注意力条件下，尽管代码发生了变化，我们还是发现了明显的偏差数量的辨别反应。至关重要的是，当参与者明确关注数量和奇偶性时，距离效应（当基数/偏差较远时，反应较大）存在，但当关注颜色和简单的观察指令时，距离效应就会减弱。总的来说，这些结果表明对抽象数量表示的自动访问，但强调了选择性注意在处理基础数量信息中的作用。因此，这项研究提供了关于注意力如何调节支持抽象数量处理的神经活动的见解。
