TY - JOUR
T1 - The spatial representation of numbers
T2 - Evidence from neglect and pseudoneglect
AU - Umiltà, Carlo
AU - Priftis, Konstantinos
AU - Zorzi, Marco
PY - 2009/1
Y1 - 2009/1
N2 - The aim of the present paper is to provide an overview of the evidence that links spatial representation with representation of number magnitude. This aim is achieved by reviewing the literature concerning the number interval bisection task in patients with left hemispatial neglect and in healthy participants (pseudoneglect). Phenomena like the Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect and the shifts of covert spatial attention caused by number processing are thought to support the notion that number magnitude is represented along a spatially organized mental number line. However, the evidence provided by chronometric studies is not univocal and is open to alternative, non-spatial interpretations. In contrast, neuropsychological studies have offered convincing evidence that humans indeed represent numbers on a mental number line oriented from left to right. Neglect patients systematically misplace the midpoint of a numerical interval they are asked to bisect (e.g., they say that 〈5〉 is halfway between 〈2〉 and 〈6〉) and their mistakes closely resemble the typical pattern found in bisection of true visual lines. The presence of dissociations between impaired explicit knowledge and spared implicit knowledge supports the notion that neglect produces a deficit in accessing an intact mental number line, rather than a distortion in the representation of that line. Other results show that the existence of a strong spatial connotation constitutes a specific property of number representations rather than a general characteristic of all ordered sequences.
AB - The aim of the present paper is to provide an overview of the evidence that links spatial representation with representation of number magnitude. This aim is achieved by reviewing the literature concerning the number interval bisection task in patients with left hemispatial neglect and in healthy participants (pseudoneglect). Phenomena like the Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect and the shifts of covert spatial attention caused by number processing are thought to support the notion that number magnitude is represented along a spatially organized mental number line. However, the evidence provided by chronometric studies is not univocal and is open to alternative, non-spatial interpretations. In contrast, neuropsychological studies have offered convincing evidence that humans indeed represent numbers on a mental number line oriented from left to right. Neglect patients systematically misplace the midpoint of a numerical interval they are asked to bisect (e.g., they say that 〈5〉 is halfway between 〈2〉 and 〈6〉) and their mistakes closely resemble the typical pattern found in bisection of true visual lines. The presence of dissociations between impaired explicit knowledge and spared implicit knowledge supports the notion that neglect produces a deficit in accessing an intact mental number line, rather than a distortion in the representation of that line. Other results show that the existence of a strong spatial connotation constitutes a specific property of number representations rather than a general characteristic of all ordered sequences.
KW - Mental number line
KW - Neglect
KW - Number bisection
KW - Numerical cognition
KW - Pseudoneglect
KW - Spatial representation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=57749192470&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=57749192470&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00221-008-1623-2
DO - 10.1007/s00221-008-1623-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 18985329
AN - SCOPUS:57749192470
VL - 192
SP - 561
EP - 569
JO - Experimental Brain Research
JF - Experimental Brain Research
SN - 0014-4819
IS - 3
ER -