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The influence of the place-value structure of the Arabic number ...

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Implications for <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>oretical understanding <strong>of</strong> numerical cognition<br />

As outlined above we observed particular language differences in estimation accuracy<br />

in <strong>the</strong> <strong>number</strong>-line task. In <strong>the</strong> following paragraph <strong>the</strong> implications <strong>of</strong> this finding concerning<br />

<strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>oretical conceptualization <strong>of</strong> <strong>number</strong> processing as proposed by <strong>the</strong> most influential<br />

model, i.e., <strong>the</strong> so-called Triple Code model (Dehaene & Cohen, 1995; 1997; Dehaene,<br />

Piazza, Pinel, & Cohen, 2003) shall be addressed. <strong>The</strong> Triple Code model postulates three<br />

distinct representation systems for numerical information that are directly interlinked: a visual<br />

system representing <strong>the</strong> visual identities <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> digital input, a verbal system involving <strong>number</strong><br />

words and arithmetic facts and a quantity system coding numerical magnitude information.<br />

Numerical input can directly access all three <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> systems dependent on <strong>the</strong> format in which<br />

it is presented. <strong>The</strong> input information is <strong>the</strong>n transcoded into <strong>the</strong> appropriate representation for<br />

solving <strong>the</strong> task. This means, depending on task demands one or more <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> representation<br />

systems are involved. From <strong>the</strong> beginning, <strong>the</strong> representation <strong>of</strong> <strong>number</strong> magnitude in <strong>the</strong><br />

quantity system was assumed to be organized as an internal MNL with <strong>number</strong>s being<br />

arranged in ascending order from left to right upon this MNL (cf. Dehaene et al., 1993;<br />

Dehaene & Cohen, 1995). Consequently, <strong>number</strong> magnitude seems to be associated with<br />

physical space (see Bueti & Walsh, 2009; de Hevia, Vallar, & Girelli, 2008; Umiltà, Priftis, &<br />

Zorzi, 2009 for recent reviews on different aspects <strong>of</strong> spatial-numerical associations; Wood,<br />

Willmes, Nuerk, & Fischer, 2008; for a review and a meta-analysis). In this context, <strong>the</strong><br />

<strong>number</strong>-line task intends to measure <strong>the</strong> nature and stability <strong>of</strong> (linear) spatial-numerical<br />

associations.<br />

How can language properties exert an <strong>influence</strong> on <strong>the</strong> spatial representation <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>number</strong> magnitude? According to <strong>the</strong> model, at least three processing steps would be required<br />

for <strong>number</strong>-line estimation: (i) access to <strong>the</strong> <strong>number</strong>s to-be-estimated through <strong>the</strong> visual<br />

<strong>Arabic</strong> system; (ii) transmission to <strong>the</strong> spatial representation system where magnitude is<br />

processed analogously upon a mental <strong>number</strong>-line; and (iii) direct retrieval <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> output from<br />

108

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