Article Version of Record

Linguistic inversion and numerical estimation

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Savelkouls, Sophie
Williams, Katherine
Barth, Hilary

Abstract / Description

Number line estimation (NLE) performance is usually believed to depend on the magnitudes of presented numerals, rather than on the particular digits instantiating those magnitudes. Recent research, however, shows that NLE placements differ considerably for target numerals with nearly identical magnitudes, but instantiated with different leftmost digits. Here we investigate whether this left digit effect may be due, in part, to the ordering of digits in number words. In English, the leftmost digit of an Arabic numeral is spoken first (“forty-one”), but Dutch number words are characterized by the inversion property: the rightmost digit of a two-digit number word is spoken first (“eenenveertig” – one and forty in Dutch). Participants (N = 40 Dutch-English bilinguals and N = 20 English-speaking monolinguals) completed a standard 0-100 NLE task. Target numerals were read aloud by an experimenter in either English or Dutch. Preregistered analyses revealed a strong left digit effect in monolingual English speakers’ estimates: e.g., 41 was placed more than two units to the right of 39. No left digit effect was observed among Dutch-English bilingual participants tested in either language. These findings are consistent with the idea that the order in which digits are spoken might influence multi-digit number processing, and suggests linguistic influences on numerical estimation performance.

Keyword(s)

numerical cognition estimation number line left digit effect

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2020-12-03

Journal title

Journal of Numerical Cognition

Volume

6

Issue

3

Page numbers

263–274

Publisher

PsychOpen GOLD

Publication status

publishedVersion

Review status

peerReviewed

Is version of

Citation

Savelkouls, S., Williams, K., & Barth, H. (2020). Linguistic inversion and numerical estimation. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 6(3), 263-274. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v6i3.273
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Savelkouls, Sophie
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Williams, Katherine
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Barth, Hilary
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2022-04-14T11:21:51Z
  • Made available on
    2022-04-14T11:21:51Z
  • Date of first publication
    2020-12-03
  • Abstract / Description
    Number line estimation (NLE) performance is usually believed to depend on the magnitudes of presented numerals, rather than on the particular digits instantiating those magnitudes. Recent research, however, shows that NLE placements differ considerably for target numerals with nearly identical magnitudes, but instantiated with different leftmost digits. Here we investigate whether this left digit effect may be due, in part, to the ordering of digits in number words. In English, the leftmost digit of an Arabic numeral is spoken first (“forty-one”), but Dutch number words are characterized by the inversion property: the rightmost digit of a two-digit number word is spoken first (“eenenveertig” – one and forty in Dutch). Participants (N = 40 Dutch-English bilinguals and N = 20 English-speaking monolinguals) completed a standard 0-100 NLE task. Target numerals were read aloud by an experimenter in either English or Dutch. Preregistered analyses revealed a strong left digit effect in monolingual English speakers’ estimates: e.g., 41 was placed more than two units to the right of 39. No left digit effect was observed among Dutch-English bilingual participants tested in either language. These findings are consistent with the idea that the order in which digits are spoken might influence multi-digit number processing, and suggests linguistic influences on numerical estimation performance.
    en_US
  • Publication status
    publishedVersion
  • Review status
    peerReviewed
  • Citation
    Savelkouls, S., Williams, K., & Barth, H. (2020). Linguistic inversion and numerical estimation. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 6(3), 263-274. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v6i3.273
    en_US
  • ISSN
    2363-8761
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/5482
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.6086
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychOpen GOLD
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v6i3.273
  • Is related to
    https://aspredicted.org/85uf2.pdf
  • Is related to
    https://osf.io/b3nzy/?view_only=d409846e1aee4709998192a610a8f242
  • Keyword(s)
    numerical cognition
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    estimation
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    number line
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    left digit effect
    en_US
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Linguistic inversion and numerical estimation
    en_US
  • DRO type
    article
  • Issue
    3
  • Journal title
    Journal of Numerical Cognition
  • Page numbers
    263–274
  • Volume
    6
  • Visible tag(s)
    Version of Record
    en_US