title: Polarity correspondence in comparative number magnitude judgments.
abstract: When asked which of two digits is greater, participants respond more quickly if physical size corresponds to number magnitude, such as in 3 7, than when the two attributes contradict each other, such as in 3 7. This size congruence effect in comparative number judgments is a well-documented phenomenon. We extended existing findings by showing that this effect does not depend on physical size of the number alone but can be observed with number symmetry. In addition, we observed that symmetric numbers are judged as being smaller than asymmetric numbers, which renders an interpretation of the number symmetry congruence effect in terms of physical size implausible. We refer to the polarity correspondence principle (Proctor & Cho, 2006) to explain the present findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biologicaland Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. rolf.reber@psysp.uib.no
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Reber
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wurtz
authors.forename: Marit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Knapstad
authors.forename: Linn Vathne
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Lervik
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D012858:Size Perception; D055815:Young Adult
references.citation: Exp Psychol. 2006;53(2):87-94
references.pmid: 16909932
references.citation: Mem Cognit. 1982 Jul;10(4):389-95
references.pmid: 7132716
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2003 Nov;7(11):483-8
references.pmid: 14585444
references.citation: Psychol Bull. 2006 May;132(3):416-42
references.pmid: 16719568
references.citation: Percept Psychophys. 2004 Oct;66(7):1105-14
references.pmid: 15751469
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 1979;17(5):467-72
references.pmid: 514483
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2007 Apr;33(2):483-96
references.pmid: 17469981
references.citation: Neuron. 2004 Mar 25;41(6):983-93
references.pmid: 15046729
references.citation: Mem Cognit. 2004 Jun;32(4):662-73
references.pmid: 15478760
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 1998 Nov;36(11):1167-79
references.pmid: 9842762
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2003 Jun;29(3):507-22
references.pmid: 12848323
references.citation: Neuropsychology. 2005 Sep;19(5):641-8
references.pmid: 16187882
references.citation: Exp Psychol. 2005;52(3):195-200
references.pmid: 16076067
references.citation: Mem Cognit. 2006 Mar;34(2):445-57
references.pmid: 16752607
references.citation: Vision Res. 1975 Aug-Sep;15:949-55
references.pmid: 1166629