Reevaluating the two-representation model of numerical magnitude processing

• Published in: Memory & cognition Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 162 - 170
• Main Authors: Jiang, Ting, Zhang, Wenfeng, Wen, Wen, Zhu, Haiting, Du, Han, Zhu, Xiangru, Gao, Xuefei, Zhang, Hongchuan, Dong, Qi, Chen, Chuansheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.01.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Asymmetry; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Cognitive Psychology; Executive Function - physiology; Female; Humans; Judgment - physiology; Male; Mathematical Concepts; Numbers; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Psychology; Stroop Test; Studies; Young Adult; Distance effect; Congruity effect; Number representation; Stroop interference; Arabic numeral
• ISSN: 0090-502X; 1532-5946
• DOI: 10.3758/s13421-015-0542-2

One debate in mathematical cognition centers on the single-representation model versus the two-representation model. Using an improved number Stroop paradigm (i.e., systematically manipulating physical size distance), in the present study we tested the predictions of the two models for number magnitude processing. The results supported the single-representation model and, more importantly, explained how a design problem (failure to manipulate physical size distance) and an analytical problem (failure to consider the interaction between congruity and task-irrelevant numerical distance) might have contributed to the evidence used to support the two-representation model. This study, therefore, can help settle the debate between the single-representation and two-representation models.