299 research outputs found
Basic and advanced numerical performances relate to mathematical expertise but are fully mediated by visuospatial skills
Recent studies have highlighted the potential role of basic numerical processing in the acquisition of numerical and mathematical competences. However, it is debated whether high-level numerical skills and mathematics depends specifically on basic numerical representations. In this study mathematicians and nonmathematicians performed a basic number line task, which required mapping positive and negative numbers on a physical horizontal line, and has been shown to correlate with more advanced numerical abilities and mathematical achievement. We found that mathematicians were more accurate compared with nonmathematicians when mapping positive, but not negative numbers, which are considered numerical primitives and cultural artifacts, respectively. Moreover, performance on positive number mapping could predict whether one is a mathematician or not, and was mediated by more advanced mathematical skills. This finding might suggest a link between basic and advanced mathematical skills. However, when we included visuospatial skills, as measured by block design subtest, the mediation analysis revealed that the relation between the performance in the number line task and the group membership was explained by non-numerical visuospatial skills. These results demonstrate that relation between basic, even specific, numerical skills and advanced mathematical achievement can be artifactual and explained by visuospatial processing
Making sense of number words and Arabic digits: Does order count more?
The ability to choose the larger between two numbers reflects a mature understanding of the magnitude associated with numerical symbols. The present study explores how the knowledge of the number sequence and memory capacity (verbal and visuospatial) relate to number comparison skills while controlling for cardinal knowledge. Preschool children’s (N = 140, Mage‐in‐months = 58.9, range = 41–75) knowledge of the directional property of the counting list as well as the spatial mapping of digits on the visual line were assessed. The ability to order digits on the visual line mediated the relation between memory capacity and number comparison skills while controlling for cardinal knowledge. Beyond cardinality, the knowledge of the (spatial) order of numbers marks the understanding of the magnitude associated with numbers
Suppression of flavor violation in an A4 warped extra dimensional model
In an attempt to simultaneously explain the observed masses and mixing
patterns of both quarks and leptons, we recently proposed a model
(JHEP08(2010)115) based on the non abelian discrete flavor group A4,
implemented in a custodial RS setup with a bulk Higgs. We showed that the
standard model flavor structure can be realized within the zero mode
approximation (ZMA), with nearly tribimaximal (TBM) neutrino mixing and a
realistic CKM matrix with rather mild assumptions. An important advantage of
this framework with respect to flavor anarchic models is the vanishing of the
dangerous tree level KK gluon contribution to \epsilon_K and the suppression of
the new physics one loop contributions to the neutron EDM, \epsilon'/\epsilon,
b->s\gamma and Higgs mediated flavor changing neutral current (FCNC) processes.
These results are obtained beyond the ZMA, in order to account for the the full
flavor structure and mixing of the zero modes and first Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes
of all generations. The resulting constraints on the KK mass scale are shown to
be significantly relaxed compared to the flavor anarchic case, showing
explicitly the role of non abelian discrete flavor symmetries in relaxing
flavor violation bounds within the RS setup. As a byproduct of our analysis we
also obtain the same contributions for the custodial anarchic case with two
SU(2)_R doublets for each fermion generation.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; contribution prepared for DISCRETE'10 - Symposium
on Prospects in the Physics of Discrete Symmetrie
Who gains more: experts or novices? The benefits of interaction under numerical uncertainty
Interacting to reach a shared decision is an omnipresent component of human collaboration. We explored the interaction between dyads of individuals with different levels of expertise. The members of the dyads completed a number line task privately, jointly and privately again. In the joint condition, dyad members shared their private estimates and then negotiated a joint estimate. Both dyad members averaged their private individual estimates to determine joint estimates, thereby showing a strong equality bias. Their performance in the joint condition exceeded the performance of the dyad’s best estimator, demonstrating interaction benefit, only when the dyad members had similar levels of expertise and when the averaged dyad performance was sufficiently accurate. At the end of the task, participants rated their and their partner’s level of competence. Participants were accurate in classifying themselves as the expert or the novice within the dyad. Nevertheless, novices tended to overestimate their ability as they admitted to being less competent but only slightly worse than their expert partner. Experts, instead, believed themselves to be more competent but were humble and considered their performance only marginally better than their partner. Overall, these results have important implications for settings in which people with different levels of expertise interact
See-saw neutrino masses and large mixing angles in the vortex background on a sphere
In the vortex background on a sphere, a single 6-dimensional fermion family
gives rise to 3 zero-modes in the 4-dimensional point of view, which may
explain the replication of families in the Standard Model. Previously, it had
been shown that realistic hierarchical mass and mixing patterns can be
reproduced for the quarks and the charged leptons. Here, we show that the
addition of a single heavy 6-dimensional field that is gauge singlet, unbound
to the vortex, and embedded with a bulk Majorana mass enables to generate 4D
Majorana masses for the light neutrinos through the see-saw mechanism. The
scheme is very predictive. The hierarchical structure of the fermion zero-modes
leads automatically to an inverted pseudo-Dirac mass pattern, and always
predicts one maximal angle in the neutrino see-saw matrix. It is possible to
obtain a second large mixing angle from either the charged lepton or the
neutrino sector, and we demonstrate that this model can fit all observed data
in neutrino oscillations experiments. Also, U_{e3} is found to be of the order
~0.1.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figur
Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on Flavor Symmetries and Consequences in Accelerators and Cosmology (FLASY12)
These are the proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on Flavor Symmetries and
Consequences in Accelerators and Cosmology, held 30 June 2012 - 4 July 2012,
Dortmund, Germany.Comment: Order 400 pages, several figures including the group picture v2:
corrected author list and contributio
Implicit response-irrelevant number information triggers the SNARC effect : Evidence using a neural overlap paradigm
Peer reviewedPostprin
Leptons in Holographic Composite Higgs Models with Non-Abelian Discrete Symmetries
We study leptons in holographic composite Higgs models, namely in models
possibly admitting a weakly coupled description in terms of five-dimensional
(5D) theories. We introduce two scenarios leading to Majorana or Dirac
neutrinos, based on the non-abelian discrete group which is
responsible for nearly tri-bimaximal lepton mixing. The smallness of neutrino
masses is naturally explained and normal/inverted mass ordering can be
accommodated. We analyze two specific 5D gauge-Higgs unification models in
warped space as concrete examples of our framework. Both models pass the
current bounds on Lepton Flavour Violation (LFV) processes. We pay special
attention to the effect of so called boundary kinetic terms that are the
dominant source of LFV. The model with Majorana neutrinos is compatible with a
Kaluza-Klein vector mass scale TeV, which is roughly the
lowest scale allowed by electroweak considerations. The model with Dirac
neutrinos, although not considerably constrained by LFV processes and data on
lepton mixing, suffers from a too large deviation of the neutrino coupling to
the boson from its Standard Model value, pushing TeV.Comment: 37 pages, 4 figures; v2: Note added in light of recent T2K and MINOS
results, figures updated with new limit from MEG, references added, various
minor improvements, matches JHEP published versio
An A4 flavor model for quarks and leptons in warped geometry
We propose a spontaneous A4 flavor symmetry breaking scheme implemented in a
warped extra dimensional setup to explain the observed pattern of quark and
lepton masses and mixings. The main advantages of this choice are the
explanation of fermion mass hierarchies by wave function overlaps, the
emergence of tribimaximal neutrino mixing and zero quark mixing at the leading
order and the absence of tree-level gauge mediated flavor violations. Quark
mixing is induced by the presence of bulk flavons, which allow for cross-brane
interactions and a cross-talk between the quark and neutrino sectors, realizing
the spontaneous symmetry breaking pattern A4 --> nothing first proposed in
[X.G.\,He, Y.Y.\,Keum, R.R.\,Volkas, JHEP{0604}, 039 (2006)]. We show that the
observed quark mixing pattern can be explained in a rather economical way,
including the CP violating phase, with leading order cross-interactions, while
the observed difference between the smallest CKM entries V_{ub} and V_{td} must
arise from higher order corrections. We briefly discuss bounds on the
Kaluza-Klein scale implied by flavor changing neutral current processes in our
model and show that the residual little CP problem is milder than in flavor
anarchic models.Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures; version published in JHE
Neutrino Mass and from a Mini-Seesaw
The recently proposed "mini-seesaw mechanism" combines naturally suppressed
Dirac and Majorana masses to achieve light Standard Model neutrinos via a
low-scale seesaw. A key feature of this approach is the presence of multiple
light (order GeV) sterile-neutrinos that mix with the Standard Model. In this
work we study the bounds on these light sterile-neutrinos from processes like
\mu ---> e + \gamma, invisible Z-decays, and neutrinoless double beta-decay. We
show that viable parameter space exists and that, interestingly, key
observables can lie just below current experimental sensitivities. In
particular, a motivated region of parameter space predicts a value of BR(\mu
---> e + \gamma) within the range to be probed by MEG.Comment: 1+26 pages, 7 figures. v2 JHEP version (typo's fixed, minor change to
presentation, results unchanged
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