The number line effect reflects top-down control.
Recent evidence indicates that central directional stimuli, such as eyes and arrows, trigger rapid, reflexive shifts of spatial attention. A study by Fischer, Castel, Dodd, and Pratt (2003) suggested that a similar effect might also apply to central numbers, as if a digit's meaning causes attention to be oriented to its relative position on a left-to-right mental number line. However, unlike central eyes and arrows, the orienting effect for central digits emerges slowly, suggesting that top-down endogenous processes may be mediating this effect. Here, we report a series of three experiments that strongly support this hypothesis. Experiment 1 replicated Fischer et al.'s left-to-right number line effect. Experiment 2 showed that this effect could be completely reversed by merely asking participants to imagine a number line running from right to left. Experiment 3 showed that a left-to-right number line effect could be abolished by presenting targets above and below central fixation, as well as to the left and right of center. Experiment 3 also showed that other mental sets, such as imagining a clock, result in attention's being oriented in accordance with where the central digits are represented on a clock face. Together, these data indicate that the spatial representations and attentional orienting related to the perception of digits are both fragile and flexible and depend critically on the top-down spatial mental sets adopted by individuals.
Ristic
Jelena
J
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. jelena.ristic@telus.net
Wright
Alissa
A
Kingstone
Alan
A
D001288:Attention; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011601:Psychophysics; D011930:Reaction Time; D012193:Reversal Learning; D012718:Set, Psychology