Your neighbors define your value: A study of spatial bias in number comparison

Several chronometric biases in numerical cognition have informed our understanding of a mental number line (MNL). Complementing this approach, we investigated spatial performance in a magnitude comparison task. Participants located the larger or smaller number of a pair on a horizontal line representing the interval from 0 to 10. Experiments 1 and 2 used only number pairs one unit apart and found that digits were localized farther to the right with “select larger” instructions than with “select smaller” instructions. However, when numerical distance was varied (Experiment 3), digits were localized away from numerically near neighbors. This repulsion effect reveals context-specific distortions in number representation not previously noticed with chronometric measures.

► Digits were localized to the right with “select larger” than with “select smaller”. ► Digits were localized away from numerically near neighbors. ► This spatial bias in numerical comparison reveals context-specific distortions.