title: Spacing and Presentation Modes Affect the Unit-Decade Compatibility Effect During Number Comparison.
abstract: The unit-decade compatibility effect has challenged the model of holistic number magnitude processing, suggesting decomposed processing of multi-digit numbers. Recent evidence confirms that decomposed processing of decade and unit magnitudes occurs in parallel. However, the mode of presentation of multi-digit numbers may affect the processing mode (holistic vs. decomposed, parallel vs. sequential). We therefore investigated in two studies, whether presentation mode (vertical, horizontal, or consecutive) or the distance between two vertically presented numbers affects the unit-decade compatibility effect during number comparison. We found that the compatibility effect did not differ significantly between vertical and horizontal presentation, adding to previous results on perceptual generality, but was nonsignificant with consecutive presentation. However, the compatibility effect was significantly smaller, if numbers are spaced further apart. Thus, stimulus size and distance between numbers affect the processing of multi-digit numbers and should be reported in future studies.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Austria.|2 Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: Belinda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pletzer
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scheuringer
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: TiAnni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001245:Association Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011340:Problem Solving; D011930:Reaction Time; D013028:Space Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: hybrid model; number magnitude processing; presentation mode; unit-decade compatibility effect