Content area
Abstract
Arabic digits (e.g., "6") and number words (e.g., "^", "six", "â...∂") are the two main formats in which numbers can be represented. Although phonology plays a crucial role in the semantic accessing of alphabetic words and Chinese characters, whether it is involved in the processing of different numerical notations, which have been shown to be dissociable from characters, is still unknown. Using a parity judgment task, two experiments were performed by manipulating the phonological relationship between a prime and a target. The primes were Tibetan or Chinese characters and the targets were presented either as number words (Experiment 1) or as Arabic digits (Experiment 2). The results revealed that phonology affected semantic access for both number words and Arabic digits. Additionally, semantic access for Tibetan number words was more susceptible to phonological information. The results for Arabic digits followed the same pattern for Tibetan primes. Further, language proficiency also affected the role of phonology in number processing. Participants with low language proficiency relied more on phonological encoding when processing the numbers. The results suggest that phonology is crucial for semantic access of different numerical notations.
Details
1 College of Education, Hebei Normal University, 20 Nanerhuandong Road, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, No.19, Xinjiekouwai St, Haidian District, Beijing 100875, China
3 Advanced Innovation Center for Future Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
4 Siegler center for Innovative Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China