Evidence for a visuospatial bias in decimal number comparison in adolescents and in adults

There is a close relation between spatial and numerical representations which can lead to interference as in Piaget’s number conservation task or in the numerical Stroop task. Using a negative priming (NP) paradigm, we investigated whether the interference between spatial and numerical processing extends to more complex arithmetic processing by asking 12 year olds and adults to compare the magnitude of decimal numbers (i.e., the prime) and, subsequently, the length of two lines or the luminance of two circles (i.e., the probe). We found NP effects when participants compare length but not luminance. Our finding suggests that decimal comparison is impacted by a visuospatial bias due to the interference between the magnitude of the numbers to be compared and their physical length. We discuss the educational implications of these findings.