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Which numbers do you have in mind? Number generation is influenced by reading direction

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Abstract

In Western participants, small numbers are associated with left and larger numbers with right space. A biological account proposes that brain asymmetries lead to these attentional asymmetries in number space. In contrast, a cultural account proposes that the direction of this association is shaped by reading direction. We explored whether number generation is influenced by reading direction in participants from a left-to-right (UK) and a right-to-left (Arab) reading culture. Participants generated numbers randomly while lying on their left and right side. The mean number generated by participants from a left-to-right reading culture was smaller when they lay on their left than on their right side, and the opposite was found for participants from a right-to-left reading culture. Asymmetries in number space observed in number generation are more compatible with a cultural than biological account.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the children, adults and schools who took part in this study and Yinwen Ko, Hannah Roome, Sinead Allpress and Courtney Poole for their assistance in data collection. This study was funded by a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant (SG121544).

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Correspondence to Silke M. Göbel.

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Göbel, S.M., Maier, C.A. & Shaki, S. Which numbers do you have in mind? Number generation is influenced by reading direction. Cogn Process 16 (Suppl 1), 241–244 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-015-0715-8

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