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Professional mathematicians do not differ from others in the symbolic numerical distance and size effects

The numerical distance effect (it is easier to compare numbers that are further apart) and size effect (for a constant distance, it is easier to compare smaller numbers) characterize symbolic number processing. However, evidence for a relationship between these two basic phenomena and more complex m...

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Autores principales: Hohol, Mateusz, Willmes, Klaus, Nęcka, Edward, Brożek, Bartosz, Nuerk, Hans-Christoph, Cipora, Krzysztof
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7359336/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32661271
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68202-z
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author Hohol, Mateusz
Willmes, Klaus
Nęcka, Edward
Brożek, Bartosz
Nuerk, Hans-Christoph
Cipora, Krzysztof
author_facet Hohol, Mateusz
Willmes, Klaus
Nęcka, Edward
Brożek, Bartosz
Nuerk, Hans-Christoph
Cipora, Krzysztof
author_sort Hohol, Mateusz
collection PubMed
description The numerical distance effect (it is easier to compare numbers that are further apart) and size effect (for a constant distance, it is easier to compare smaller numbers) characterize symbolic number processing. However, evidence for a relationship between these two basic phenomena and more complex mathematical skills is mixed. Previously this relationship has only been studied in participants with normal or poor mathematical skills, not in mathematicians. Furthermore, the prevalence of these effects at the individual level is not known. Here we compared professional mathematicians, engineers, social scientists, and a reference group using the symbolic magnitude classification task with single-digit Arabic numbers. The groups did not differ with respect to symbolic numerical distance and size effects in either frequentist or Bayesian analyses. Moreover, we looked at their prevalence at the individual level using the bootstrapping method: while a reliable numerical distance effect was present in almost all participants, the prevalence of a reliable numerical size effect was much lower. Again, prevalence did not differ between groups. In summary, the phenomena were neither more pronounced nor more prevalent in mathematicians, suggesting that extremely high mathematical skills neither rely on nor have special consequences for analogue processing of symbolic numerical magnitudes.
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spelling pubmed-73593362020-07-14 Professional mathematicians do not differ from others in the symbolic numerical distance and size effects Hohol, Mateusz Willmes, Klaus Nęcka, Edward Brożek, Bartosz Nuerk, Hans-Christoph Cipora, Krzysztof Sci Rep Article The numerical distance effect (it is easier to compare numbers that are further apart) and size effect (for a constant distance, it is easier to compare smaller numbers) characterize symbolic number processing. However, evidence for a relationship between these two basic phenomena and more complex mathematical skills is mixed. Previously this relationship has only been studied in participants with normal or poor mathematical skills, not in mathematicians. Furthermore, the prevalence of these effects at the individual level is not known. Here we compared professional mathematicians, engineers, social scientists, and a reference group using the symbolic magnitude classification task with single-digit Arabic numbers. The groups did not differ with respect to symbolic numerical distance and size effects in either frequentist or Bayesian analyses. Moreover, we looked at their prevalence at the individual level using the bootstrapping method: while a reliable numerical distance effect was present in almost all participants, the prevalence of a reliable numerical size effect was much lower. Again, prevalence did not differ between groups. In summary, the phenomena were neither more pronounced nor more prevalent in mathematicians, suggesting that extremely high mathematical skills neither rely on nor have special consequences for analogue processing of symbolic numerical magnitudes. Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-07-13 /pmc/articles/PMC7359336/ /pubmed/32661271 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68202-z Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Hohol, Mateusz
Willmes, Klaus
Nęcka, Edward
Brożek, Bartosz
Nuerk, Hans-Christoph
Cipora, Krzysztof
Professional mathematicians do not differ from others in the symbolic numerical distance and size effects
title Professional mathematicians do not differ from others in the symbolic numerical distance and size effects
title_full Professional mathematicians do not differ from others in the symbolic numerical distance and size effects
title_fullStr Professional mathematicians do not differ from others in the symbolic numerical distance and size effects
title_full_unstemmed Professional mathematicians do not differ from others in the symbolic numerical distance and size effects
title_short Professional mathematicians do not differ from others in the symbolic numerical distance and size effects
title_sort professional mathematicians do not differ from others in the symbolic numerical distance and size effects
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7359336/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32661271
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68202-z
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