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

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SUMMARY<br />

Before evaluating <strong>the</strong> implications <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> preceding results in <strong>the</strong> General Discussion a<br />

short summary <strong>of</strong> each <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> seven studies shall be given in turn to recapitulate <strong>the</strong> most<br />

important results. Please note that <strong>the</strong> summary will be focused on illustrating <strong>the</strong> most<br />

important results <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> individual studies while <strong>the</strong> interpretation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> results will be kept at<br />

a minimum here and will be given in <strong>the</strong> Synopsis and Evaluation / Discussion sections <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

General Discussion.<br />

<strong>The</strong> current <strong>the</strong>sis aimed at investigating <strong>the</strong> <strong>influence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong> <strong>structure</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> <strong>number</strong> system on numerical cognition in three different respects: (i) In a first set<br />

<strong>of</strong> studies questions regarding <strong>the</strong> cognitive representation / instantiation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>place</strong> <strong>value</strong><br />

<strong>structure</strong> were addressed (cf. Section 2). (ii) Attention was paid to <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong><br />

children’s early <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong> understanding and its developmental trajectories on <strong>the</strong><br />

development <strong>of</strong> numerical / arithmetical competencies such as addition (cf. Section 3). (iii)<br />

<strong>The</strong> neuropsychological underpinnings <strong>of</strong> <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong> processing were examined in a<br />

functional MRI study as well as in a patient study evaluating its impairments caused by hemispatial<br />

neglect (cf. Section 4). Apart from <strong>the</strong>se empirical data this <strong>the</strong>sis provided a first<br />

evaluation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> representational <strong>structure</strong> <strong>of</strong> two-digit <strong>number</strong>s (i.e., holistic, strictly<br />

decomposed, or hybrid) using a computational modelling approach (cf. Section 5). <strong>The</strong><br />

summary will follow this structuring as <strong>the</strong> results <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> respective sections will be illustrated<br />

in turn<br />

Section 2: On task general <strong>influence</strong>s <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong> <strong>structure</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> <strong>number</strong><br />

system in human <strong>number</strong> representation<br />

Study 1 <strong>of</strong> this <strong>the</strong>sis addressed <strong>the</strong> nature <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> internal representation <strong>of</strong> two-digit<br />

<strong>number</strong> magnitude. Recent research (e.g., Zhang & Wang, 2005; Ganor-Stern, Pinhas, &<br />

Tzelgov, 2008) proposed that <strong>the</strong> decomposed representation <strong>of</strong> two-digit <strong>number</strong> magnitude<br />

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