title: Role of an ideomotor mechanism in number processing.
abstract: The ideomotor principle predicts that the anticipation of expected sensory consequences precedes and controls voluntary goal-directed movements. Recent studies have revealed that an ideomotor mechanism could also support the link between finger movements and number processing. However, it is unknown whether such a mechanism is devoted to number processing per se, that is, without associated movement. In three experiments, we tested whether the ideomotor mechanism was also involved in a verbal number production task without associated goal-directed and motor dimensions. We tested this hypothesis in a response-effect (R-E) paradigm generally used to assess the ideomotor mechanisms. The results of Experiment 1 revealed a compatibility effect both in a stimulus-response task and an R-E task, suggesting the involvement of an ideomotor mechanism during number processing. More importantly, Experiment 2 revealed that performance in a motor imagery task correlated with the R-E compatibility effect, whereas performance in a visual imagery task did not, suggesting a distinct motor imagery contribution to R-E compatibility. Finally, Experiment 3 showed a strong R-E compatibility effect in a verbal word production task, but the correlations with motor or visual imagery tasks were not observed. Altogether, these findings suggest that ideomotor mechanisms play a specific and functional role in number processing.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage, UMR-7295, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Poitiers, France. arnaud.badets@univ-poitiers.fr
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Badets
authors.forename: Iring
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: Lucette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Toussaint
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult