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

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decade digits but <strong>the</strong>y even processed <strong>the</strong>ir magnitude. Finally, we wish to point out that <strong>the</strong><br />

visual presentation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>number</strong> triplets with <strong>the</strong> <strong>number</strong>s above each o<strong>the</strong>r was identical in<br />

all experimental conditions. Only <strong>the</strong> mental spatial representation in <strong>the</strong> mental numerical<br />

interval differed between conditions.<br />

For all <strong>the</strong>se reasons, it can be suggested that <strong>the</strong> differences between conditions are not<br />

due to perceptual impairments in neglect, but to impairments <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mental (spatial)<br />

representation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> presented two-digit <strong>number</strong>s.<br />

Interestingly, <strong>the</strong> group difference in <strong>the</strong> decade crossing effect seemed to be modulated<br />

by <strong>the</strong> location <strong>of</strong> this decade crossing within <strong>the</strong> numerical interval: A detailed comparison<br />

<strong>of</strong> triplets with decade crossing occurring between <strong>the</strong> first and <strong>the</strong> central <strong>number</strong> (e.g.<br />

28_31_34) and triplets with decade crossing between <strong>the</strong> central and <strong>the</strong> third <strong>number</strong> (e.g.<br />

25_28_31) revealed that <strong>the</strong> deficit present for neglect patients was more pronounced in<br />

triplets with decade crossing between <strong>the</strong> first and <strong>the</strong> central <strong>number</strong>. In those triplets, <strong>the</strong><br />

decade crossing is on <strong>the</strong> left side <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mental numerical interval to which access seems<br />

particularly impaired in neglect. <strong>The</strong>refore, this detailed analysis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> decade crossing effect<br />

corroborates <strong>the</strong> assumption <strong>of</strong> an oriented MNL influencing performance in <strong>the</strong> NBT.<br />

In <strong>the</strong> remaining paragraphs, <strong>the</strong> results regarding hypo<strong>the</strong>ses (iii) and (iv) will be<br />

discussed: With regard to <strong>the</strong> factors distance to <strong>the</strong> arithmetical middle and multiplicativity<br />

no group differences between neglect patients and non-neglect controls were observed.<br />

As <strong>the</strong> distance to <strong>the</strong> arithmetical middle effect is a magnitude-related effect, it may<br />

seem surprising at first that no group difference was observed because, for <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r<br />

magnitude-related factors, neglect patients showed specific impairments as discussed above.<br />

For <strong>the</strong> distance to <strong>the</strong> middle effect, this was different. A possible reason for this lack <strong>of</strong><br />

difference between <strong>the</strong> two groups may be that magnitude processing can be subserved by <strong>the</strong><br />

IPS bilaterally (cf. Dehaene et al., 2003). General difficulties to process <strong>number</strong> magnitude<br />

(e.g. with regard to <strong>the</strong> distance effect) are usually only observed when both IPS areas are<br />

221

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