Composite body movements modulate numerical cognition: Evidence from the motion–numerical compatibility effect

A recent hierarchical model of numerical processing, initiated by Fischer and Brugger (2011) and Fisher (2012), suggested that situated factors, such as different body postures and body movements, can influence the magnitude representation and bias numerical processing. Indeed, Loetscher and colleagues (2008) found that participants’ behavior in a random number generation (RNG) task was biased by head rotations. More small numbers were reported after leftward than rightward head turns, i.e. a motion–numerical compatibility effect. Here, by carrying out two experiments, we explored whether similar motion–numerical compatibility effects exist for movements of other important body components, e.g. arms, and for composite body movements as well, which are basis for complex human activities in many ecologically meaningful situations. In Experiment 1, a motion-numerical compatibility effect was observed for lateral rotations of two body components, i.e., the head and arms. Relatively large numbers were reported after making rightward compared to leftward movements for both lateral head and arm turns. The motion-numerical compatibility effect was observed again in Experiment 2 when participants were asked to perform composite body movements of congruent movement directions, e.g., simultaneous head left turns and arm left turns. However, it disappeared when the movement directions were incongruent, e.g., simultaneous head left turns and arm right turns. Taken together, our results extended Loetscher et al.'s (2008) finding by demonstrating that their effect is effector-general and exists for arm movements. Moreover, our study reveals for the first time that the impact of spatial information on numerical processing induced by each of the two sensorimotor-based situated factors, e.g., a lateral head turn and a lateral arm turn, can cancel each other out

Are past and future symmetric in mental time line?

A growing body of evidence has suggested that time, from early to late, or from past to future, was represented in a spatially oriented mental time line. However, little is known about its characteristics. The present study provided the first empirical evidence to explore the symmetry of spatial representations of past and future in the mental time line. Specifically, we compared the Spatial-Temporal Association Response Codes (STARC) effects and distance effects of past and future in four experiments. Results showed that for near past and near future, STARC effects were similar (Experiment 1). For distant past, the STARC effect was significant, but not for distant future (Experiment 2). Furthermore, the distance effect in the past was significantly stronger than in the future (Experiment 3 and 4). These findings supported the idea that time points are not evenly distributed in mental time line. Spatial representations of the past and the future are asymmetric, and the spatial representation of past seems stronger than future. The logarithmic pattern of internal spatial representation of past or future is also discussed