When 9 is not on the right: Implications from number-form synesthesia |
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| Authors: | Limor Gertner Avishai Henik Roi Cohen Kadosh |
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| Affiliation: | aDepartment of Psychology and Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 635, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel;bInstitute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University College London, London, England, UK |
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| Abstract: | Number-form synesthetes consciously experience numbers in spatially-defined locations. For non-synesthete individuals, a similar association of numbers and space appears in the form of an implicit mental number line as signified by the distance effect–reaction time decreases as the numerical distance between compared numbers increases. In the current experiment, three number-form synesthetes and two different non-synesthete control groups (Hebrew speaking and English speaking) performed a number comparison task. Synesthete participants exhibited a sizeable distance effect only when presented numbers were congruent with their number-form. In contrast, the controls exhibited a distance effect regardless of congruency or presentation type. The findings suggest that: (a) number-form synesthesia impairs the ability to represent numbers in a flexible manner according to task demands; (b) number-form synesthesia is a genuine tangible experience, triggered involuntarily; and (c) the classic mental number line can be more pliable than previously thought and appears to be independent of cultural-lingo direction. |
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| Keywords: | Number-form synesthesia Mental number line Distance effect Congruency effect Implicit and explicit representation Mental flexibility |
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