认知与发展心理学研究室知识库

人对数字的加工能力到底受哪些因素的影响这个问题一直受到研究者的广泛关注。现有的理论认为，人类对数字的表征和加工是在一条从左至右的数字基线上完成的。而最新的实验研究表明，这条数字基线和空间注意之间有着非常密切的关系。同时，最新的理论也开始将注意因素引入到数字加工过程中来。但到目前为止，注意对数字加工的影响既缺乏直接的实验证据，也缺乏相关的理论模型。
本研究重点考察注意对数字加工过程本身的影响。通过改变注意条件，分析不同注意条件下数字加工过程中的各种基本效应的变化，发现大数和小数在几种常见的数字加工效应上都受到注意的不同的影响，并且这种影响来自一种自动化注意过程。
具体而言，本研究采用了无线索、内源性线索、外源性线索三种改变注意条件的范式，对数字距离效应，数字符号效应，数字SNARC效应在注意与非注意条件下的差异进行了考察，主要发现有:
1)对距离效应而言，注意对数字距离效应的影响主要表现在大数((6-9)上。无线索时非注意条件下大数的距离效应都明显减弱或消失;外源性线索时一我们也得到与无线索同样的结果;而内源性线索时注意条件对距离效应几乎没有影响。
2)对符号效应而言，注意对符号效应的影响主要表现在小数((1-4)上，而且这种影响非常稳定。在无线索、内源性线索、外源性线索的非注意条件下，小数的阿拉伯数字绩效都比中文要差。
3)对SNARL效应而言，注意对SNARL效应的影响同样主要表现在较大的数字(8, 9)上。无线索时非注意条件下大数的SNARL效应都受影响;外源性线索时和内源性线索时也是这样，而且外源性注意的影响要比内源性注意更大，中文数字受的影响比阿拉伯数字更大。

基于以上发现，结合已有的理论，我们提出了一个新的有注意参与的双向搜索模型Attention Involved Bidirectional Search Model )，并尝试用该模型来解释距离效应和SNARC效应。

本研究具有重要的理论意义和现实意义。一方面，数字加工机制属于高级认知过程，其研究对相关的语言和表象研究都有着直接的影响;另一方面，不同注意条件对人的数字加工能力的影响在教育心理学和工程心理学中都有十分重要的应用价值。

The issue how the ability of human processing numbers is influenced by different factors has been attended for a long time. The theory in existence suggests that the number representation and processing of human is based on a number line from the left to the right.Moreover, the recent experimental studies show that there is the very closely relation between the number line and spatial attention, and the new theory begins to introduce the factor of attention to the number processing. However, it has been lacked of direct experimental evidence and related special theory in the research filed till now.
The purpose of the present studies was to investigate how the number processing is affected by attention. By changing the attention condition, we analyzed the changing of various basic effects in the number processing under different attention conditions. The results showed that on several familiar effects of number processing, the numbers of different magnitudes were influenced differently in different attention conditions, and the influence might be automatic.
Concretely, in order to investigate the difference between in attention and non-attention condition that the number distance effect, the number notation effect, and the number SNARC effect might have, we used three different experimental paradigms (without the cue, with the endogenous cue and with the exogenous cue) to change attention condition. The main finds are showed in the following:
1)The influence of attention on number distance effect was mainly found in the large numbers (6一9). The distance effect of big numbers obviously weakened or disappeared in unattended condition without the cue; the same results were got in the condition with the exogenous cue; but attention hardly affected the distance effect in the condition with endogenous cue.
2) The influence of attention on number notation effect was mainly found in the small numbers (1一4), and the influence is very stable. The subjects' performance on small Arabic numbers was worse than small Chinese numbers in the all three unattended conditions (without the cue, with the cue or with the exogenous cue).
3) The influence of attention on number SNARC effect was also mainly found in the larger numbers (8, 9). The SNARC effect of large numbers was influenced in the unattended condition without the cue. The same results were also got in the unattended condition with the endogenous cue or with the exogenous cue, and moreover, the exogenous attention has more influence than endogenous attention and Arabic numbers got more influence than Chinese numbers.
Based on both the results of the present study and the existed theory, we proposed a new model, Attention Involved Bidirectional Search Model (AIBSM), and tried to use it to explain the number distance effect and the number SNARC effect.
The present study has important theoretic and practical significance. For the theoretic significance, as the high-level cognitive processes, number processing affects the related research of language and presentation directly; as to the practical significance, the influence of different attention condition on human ability of number processing has important application value in education psychology and engineering psychology.