Tzelgov and colleagues [Tzelgov, J., Meyer, J., and Henik, A. . Automatic and intentional processing of numerical information. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 18, 166–179.], offered the existence of the laterality effect as a post-hoc explanation for their results. According to this effect, numbers are classified automatically as small/large versus a standard point under autonomous processing of numerical information. However, the genuinity of the laterality effect was never examined, or was confounded with the numerical distance effect. In (...) the current study, I controlled the numerical distance effect and observed that the laterality effect does exist, and affects the processing of automatic numerical information. The current results suggest that the laterality effect should be taken into account when using paradigms that require automatic numerical processing such as Stroop-like or priming tasks. (shrink)

Adult number representations can belong to either of two types. One is discrete, language-specific, and culturally-derived; the other is analog and language-independent. Quantitative evidence is presented to demonstrate that analog number representations are adult-like in young children. Five- to 7-year-olds accurately estimated rapidly presented groups of 5--11 items. Groups were presented in random order and random arrangements controlling for overall area. Children's data were qualitatively, and to some degree quantitatively, similar to adult data with one exception: the ratio of the (...) standard deviation of estimates to mean estimates decreased with age. (shrink)