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Small on the left, large on the right: numbers orient visual attention onto space in preverbal infants
Author(s) -
Bulf Hermann,
Hevia Maria Dolores,
Macchi Cassia Viola
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
developmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.801
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1467-7687
pISSN - 1363-755X
DOI - 10.1111/desc.12315
Subject(s) - psychology , space (punctuation) , association (psychology) , cognitive psychology , spatial ability , visual space , number line , left and right , communication , cognition , perception , computer science , neuroscience , mathematics education , psychotherapist , operating system , structural engineering , engineering
Numbers are represented as ordered magnitudes along a spatially oriented number line. While culture and formal education modulate the direction of this number–space mapping, it is a matter of debate whether its emergence is entirely driven by cultural experience. By registering 8–9‐month‐old infants’ eye movements, this study shows that numerical cues are critical in orienting infants’ visual attention towards a peripheral region of space that is congruent with the number's relative position on a left‐to‐right oriented representational continuum. This finding provides the first direct evidence that, in humans, the association between numbers and oriented spatial codes occurs before the acquisition of symbols or exposure to formal education, suggesting that the number line is not merely a product of human invention.