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

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modelling to evaluate <strong>the</strong> plausibility and validity <strong>of</strong> above introduced models <strong>of</strong> two-digit<br />

<strong>number</strong> processing (i.e., holistic, decomposed, and hybrid processing) for <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> twodigit<br />

<strong>number</strong> comparison. So far, <strong>the</strong>re is ample evidence for decomposed processing <strong>of</strong> twodigit<br />

<strong>number</strong>s (e.g., Nuerk et al., 2001; Moeller et al., 2009a). However, at <strong>the</strong> moment <strong>the</strong>re<br />

is no empirical variable allowing a reliable differentiation between <strong>the</strong> strictly decomposed<br />

and <strong>the</strong> hybrid model. <strong>The</strong>refore, particular interest was paid to <strong>the</strong> question whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong><br />

assumption <strong>of</strong> an additional holistic representation <strong>of</strong> overall magnitude as proposed by <strong>the</strong><br />

hybrid model (cf. Nuerk & Willmes, 2005) is actually necessary to account for <strong>the</strong> empirical<br />

data. This question is specifically interesting as <strong>the</strong> hybrid model is <strong>the</strong> most complex one and<br />

following <strong>the</strong> principle <strong>of</strong> parsimony/<strong>the</strong>oretical economy it should only be chosen when <strong>the</strong><br />

o<strong>the</strong>r models and in particular <strong>the</strong> strictly decomposed model (cf. Verguts & De Moor, 2005)<br />

do not account for <strong>the</strong> data at hand.<br />

In summary, <strong>the</strong> current study set <strong>of</strong>f to distinguish between three proposed models <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>number</strong> magnitude representation (i.e., holistic, decomposed, and hybrid model) in a<br />

computational modelling approach. In a first step, <strong>the</strong> validity <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> computational models is<br />

evaluated by <strong>the</strong>ir ability to account for <strong>the</strong> distance effect, a standard effect observed in<br />

numerical cognition research. It is expected that all three models should be able to account for<br />

<strong>the</strong> distance effect. In a second step, it is aimed to evaluate <strong>the</strong> <strong>influence</strong> <strong>of</strong> decomposed<br />

processing <strong>of</strong> tens and units as indicated by <strong>the</strong> compatibility effect. Here, it is hypo<strong>the</strong>sized<br />

that <strong>the</strong> holistic model should fail to account for <strong>the</strong> unit-decade compatibility effect while<br />

both <strong>the</strong> strictly decomposed and <strong>the</strong> hybrid model should be capable <strong>of</strong> accounting for <strong>the</strong><br />

compatibility effect. Third, it shall be appraised whe<strong>the</strong>r incorporation <strong>of</strong> a predictor<br />

reflecting a measure <strong>of</strong> overall distance [i.e., (logarithmic) overall distance or <strong>the</strong> distance<br />

between <strong>the</strong> logarithms <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> to-be-compared <strong>number</strong>s] necessarily requires a holistic<br />

magnitude representation as previously argued by Nuerk and Willmes (2005, see also Nuerk<br />

et al., 2001; Knops, 2006). If so, such a predictor should only be included in <strong>the</strong> final<br />

241

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