IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0214270.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Visuo-spatial (but not verbal) executive working memory capacity modulates susceptibility to non-numerical visual magnitudes during numerosity comparison

Author

Listed:
  • Kyungmin Lee
  • Soohyun Cho

Abstract

The present study tested whether visuo-spatial vs. verbal executive working memory capacity (hereafter EWM) modulates the degree to which non-numerical visual magnitudes influence numerosity comparison using pairs of dot arrays. We hypothesized that visuo-spatial (rather than verbal) EWM capacity would influence one’s ability to selectively focus on numerical as opposed to non-numerical visual properties (such as dot size, cumulative area, density) of the dot arrays during numerosity comparison. Participants’ performance was better on trials in which non-numerical visual magnitudes were negatively (vs. positively) correlated with numerosity (i.e., reverse congruency effect). The Low visuo-spatial EWM group manifested greater reverse congruency effect compared to the High visuo-spatial EWM group. A trial-based hierarchical regression on the accuracy of each trial using the ratio of (numerical and non-numerical) visual magnitudes as predictors revealed that the ratio of numerical vs. non-numerical visual magnitudes explained the greatest variance in the performance of the High vs. Low visuo-spatial EWM groups, respectively. In contrast, there was no difference between the High vs. Low verbal EWM groups from the same analysis. These results reveal differential susceptibility to numerical vs. non-numerical visual information depending on the capacity of visuo-spatial (but not verbal) EWM. Taken together, numerosity comparison performance measured with the dot comparison paradigm seems to reflect not only one’s acuity for numerosity discrimination but also visuo-spatial EWM capacity likely required during integration of visual magnitudes during numerosity comparison.

Suggested Citation

  • Kyungmin Lee & Soohyun Cho, 2019. "Visuo-spatial (but not verbal) executive working memory capacity modulates susceptibility to non-numerical visual magnitudes during numerosity comparison," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-16, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0214270
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214270
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0214270
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0214270&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0214270?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Justin Halberda & Michèle M. M. Mazzocco & Lisa Feigenson, 2008. "Individual differences in non-verbal number acuity correlate with maths achievement," Nature, Nature, vol. 455(7213), pages 665-668, October.
    2. James Banks & Zoe Oldfield, 2007. "Understanding Pensions: Cognitive Function, Numerical Ability and Retirement Saving," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 28(2), pages 143-170, June.
    3. Michèle M M Mazzocco & Lisa Feigenson & Justin Halberda, 2011. "Preschoolers' Precision of the Approximate Number System Predicts Later School Mathematics Performance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(9), pages 1-8, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lukowski, Sarah L. & Rosenberg-Lee, Miriam & Thompson, Lee A. & Hart, Sara A. & Willcutt, Erik G. & Olson, Richard K. & Petrill, Stephen A. & Pennington, Bruce F., 2017. "Approximate number sense shares etiological overlap with mathematics and general cognitive ability," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 67-74.
    2. Carmen Brankaer & Pol Ghesquière & Bert De Smedt, 2014. "Children’s Mapping between Non-Symbolic and Symbolic Numerical Magnitudes and Its Association with Timed and Untimed Tests of Mathematics Achievement," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(4), pages 1-11, April.
    3. Julie Castronovo & Silke M Göbel, 2012. "Impact of High Mathematics Education on the Number Sense," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(4), pages 1-16, April.
    4. Tullio Jappelli, 2010. "Economic Literacy: An International Comparison," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(548), pages 429-451, November.
    5. Michele Piccione & Ran Spiegler, 2012. "Price Competition Under Limited Comparability," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(1), pages 97-135.
    6. Lusardi, Annamaria & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2011. "Financial literacy around the world: an overview," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 497-508, October.
    7. Gabriele Doblhammer & Gerard J van den Berg & Thomas Fritze, 2013. "Economic Conditions at the Time of Birth and Cognitive Abilities Late in Life: Evidence from Ten European Countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-12, September.
    8. Marie-Claire Cammaerts & Roger Cammaerts, 2021. "Young Ants Already Possess a Mental Number Line," International Journal of Biology, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(2), pages 1-1, December.
    9. Meta Brown & John Grigsby & Wilbert van der Klaauw & Jaya Wen & Basit Zafar, 2016. "Financial Education and the Debt Behavior of the Young," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(9), pages 2490-2522.
    10. Thomas F. Crossley & Tobias Schmidt & Panagiota Tzamourani & Joachim K. Winter, 2021. "Interviewer effects and the measurement of financial literacy," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 184(1), pages 150-178, January.
    11. Freise, Diana & Schmitz, Hendrik & Westphal, Matthias, 2022. "Late-career unemployment and cognitive abilities," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    12. Friesen, Lana & Earl, Peter E., 2015. "Multipart tariffs and bounded rationality: An experimental analysis of mobile phone plan choices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 239-253.
    13. Victor Stango & Joanne Yoong & Jonathan Zinman, 2017. "Quicksand or Bedrock for Behavioral Economics? Assessing Foundational Empirical Questions," NBER Working Papers 23625, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Jade Eloise Norris & Julie Castronovo, 2016. "Dot Display Affects Approximate Number System Acuity and Relationships with Mathematical Achievement and Inhibitory Control," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-15, May.
    15. Fabio P. Leite & Roger Ratcliff, 2011. "What cognitive processes drive response biases? A diffusion model analysis," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 6(7), pages 651-687, October.
    16. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A. & Kassenboehmer, Sonja C. & Sinning, Mathias G., 2016. "Locus of control and savings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 113-130.
    17. Teresa Bago d'Uva & Esen Erdogan Ciftci & Owen O'Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2015. "Who can predict their Own Demise? Accuracy of Longevity Expectations by Education and Cognition," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 15-052/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    18. Oscar A. Stolper & Andreas Walter, 2017. "Financial literacy, financial advice, and financial behavior," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(5), pages 581-643, July.
    19. Kristopher Gerardi & Lorenz Goette & Stephan Meier, 2010. "Financial literacy and subprime mortgage delinquency: evidence from a survey matched to administrative data," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2010-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    20. Liat Goldfarb & Sharon Levy, 2013. "Counting within the Subitizing Range: The Effect of Number of Distractors on the Perception of Subset Items," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-8, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0214270. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.