Manipulating number generation: loud + long = large?
Humans make numerous choices every day and tend to perceive these choices as free. The present study shows how simple free choices are biased by experiencing unrelated auditory information. In two experiments, participants categorized tones according to their intensity on the dimensions volume and duration on the majority of trials. On some trials, however, they were to randomly generate a number, and we found these choices to be influenced by tone intensity. Particularly, if participants were cued toward volume, loud tones clearly biased participants to generate larger numbers. For tone duration, a similar effect only emerged if spatial information was reinforced by the motor context of the task. The findings extend previous findings relating to the ATOM framework (A Theory of Magnitude) by an explicit focus on auditory magnitude processing. As such, they also constrain ATOM by showing that the connections between different magnitude dimensions vary to a considerable degree.
Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg, Department of Psychology III, Röntgenring 11, 97070 Würzburg, Germany.
Alexander
A
Heinemann
Roland
R
Pfister
Markus
M
Janczyk
D001288:Attention; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008144:Loudness Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
ATOM; Decisions; Free choices; Magnitude system; Number processing; Random number generation