Reasoning about conventional time as a function of conventional time systems

This study investigated how reasoning about conventional time information varied as a function of conventional time systems by using the Chinese month and Jieqi systems. Twenty Chinese students were asked to answer month-related questions and another 20 were asked to answer Jieqi-related questions. Reaction time and accuracy were the dependent measures. A cross-boundary effect was observed in processing months, and distance and direction effects were obtained when participants judged the interval of Jieqi. These results suggested that arithmetic operations were used in Chinese reasoning about months and verbal-articulatory processes were used for the Jieqi. The effects of mode of language representation on cognition and the strategies for cross-linguistic study are discussed.