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

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CONCLUSIONS<br />

In summary, <strong>the</strong> conclusions to be drawn are tw<strong>of</strong>old: first, <strong>the</strong>se data present<br />

evidence that <strong>the</strong> representation <strong>of</strong> two-digit <strong>number</strong>s does not generally depend on<br />

representational format (i.e. internal vs. external) as proposed by Zhang and Wang (2005). If<br />

<strong>the</strong> internal representation <strong>of</strong> two-digit <strong>number</strong>s were holistic, allowing for larger unit<br />

distances and balancing <strong>the</strong> <strong>number</strong> <strong>of</strong> within-decade trials should not have changed <strong>the</strong><br />

results. However, as <strong>the</strong>se changes mattered and produced a significant compatibility effect,<br />

internal two-digit <strong>number</strong> representation can hardly be considered to be exclusively holistic.<br />

Ra<strong>the</strong>r, <strong>the</strong>se data suggest two-digit <strong>number</strong>s to be represented in a decomposed fashion<br />

independent <strong>of</strong> an internal or external representational format for <strong>the</strong> comparison standard.<br />

Second, <strong>the</strong>se data illustrate that a careful choice <strong>of</strong> stimuli and experimental<br />

conditions is necessary in investigations <strong>of</strong> multi-digit <strong>number</strong> processing. Two modifications<br />

are considered particularly important in this study: (i) <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> large unit-distances for<br />

examining compatibility effects and (ii) <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> within-decade stimuli to prevent attentional<br />

biases. <strong>The</strong> data suggest that <strong>the</strong>se factors should also be considered in future studies<br />

investigating <strong>the</strong> nature <strong>of</strong> multi-digit <strong>number</strong> processing under different conditions.<br />

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