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

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specific processing <strong>of</strong> <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong> information (cf. Study 5). This again is in line with <strong>the</strong><br />

interpretation suggesting <strong>the</strong> mental <strong>number</strong> line to not only represent analogue magnitude<br />

information but to also involve information about <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong> properties.<br />

Taken toge<strong>the</strong>r, <strong>the</strong> results <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> current <strong>the</strong>sis provide fur<strong>the</strong>r evidence for<br />

decomposed processing <strong>of</strong> multi-digit <strong>number</strong>s (reflecting a crucial role <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong><br />

<strong>structure</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Arabic</strong> <strong>number</strong> system) to be a general processing principle ra<strong>the</strong>r than a<br />

specificity to particular presentational formats, tasks, and/or participant populations. In turn,<br />

this strongly suggests that <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong> information is an inherent part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> mental<br />

representation <strong>of</strong> <strong>number</strong> magnitude (possibly along a mental <strong>number</strong> line) as it seems to be<br />

retained in numerical cognition in general.<br />

Future perspectives on <strong>the</strong> generalizability <strong>of</strong> <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong> processing<br />

On a more abstract level, <strong>the</strong> assumption <strong>of</strong> <strong>place</strong>-<strong>value</strong> structuring as a general<br />

processing characteristic raises important questions regarding <strong>the</strong> overall validity <strong>of</strong> previous<br />

findings in <strong>number</strong> processing research. In particular, when acknowledging <strong>the</strong> results <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

computational modelling study fur<strong>the</strong>r research is needed to investigate <strong>the</strong> full range <strong>of</strong><br />

consequences <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fact that typical empirical effects <strong>of</strong> two-digit <strong>number</strong> comparison were<br />

accounted for best by a strictly decomposed model, not incorporating any holistic magnitude<br />

representation at all. Based on <strong>the</strong>se findings, is it justified to operationalize bisection range in<br />

a <strong>number</strong> bisection task in terms <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> overall distance between <strong>the</strong> two <strong>number</strong>s defining <strong>the</strong><br />

to-be-bisected interval (e.g., Nuerk et al., 2002; Study 5; Göbel, Calabria, Farnè, & Rossetti,<br />

2006; L<strong>of</strong>tus, Nicholls, Mattingly, & Bradshaw, 2008), or <strong>the</strong> distance between <strong>the</strong> correct<br />

middle <strong>number</strong> and a given probe by giving <strong>the</strong> overall distance between <strong>the</strong> probe and <strong>the</strong><br />

correct middle <strong>number</strong> (e.g., Nuerk et al., 2002; Study 5; L<strong>of</strong>tus et al., 2008)? <strong>The</strong> current<br />

data suggest that it might be more appropriate to distinguish between <strong>the</strong> decade and <strong>the</strong> unit<br />

301

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