Linguistic markedness and body specificity in parity judgments: evidence from a go/no-go task.

In two experiments we tested the contribution of linguistic markedness and affective evaluation (i.e., body specificity) to the representation of abstract numerical concepts, such as parity.

Contrast polarity affects verification of addition and subtraction problems via conceptual mapping.

The extent to which processing of abstract numerical concepts depends on perceptual representations is still an open question. In four experiments, we examined the association between contrast polarity and mental arithmetic, as well as its possible source. Undergraduate psychology students verified the correctness of single-digit arithmetic problems such as 2 + 5 = 7 or 9 - 6 = 5.

Symbol grounding of number words in the subitization range.

In three experiments, we explored whether number words are grounded in a nonsymbolic representation of numerosity. We used a sentence-picture verification task, where participants are required to check whether the concept given in a sentence corresponds to the subsequently presented object. We concurrently manipulated numerical congruency by orthogonally varying the number word attached to the concept and the quantity of objects.