The interplay between remembered affordances and the perceived numbers: An eye-tracking study

Background: Previous research revealed similarities between objects’ representations stored in working memory and those formed online during concept apprehension (e.g., Moorselaar, et al., 2014) suggesting that memorial and perceptual representations are similarly grounded in sensorimotor simulation. Other studies show similar sensorimotor simulations in representations of number (van Dijck & Fias, 2011; van Dijk, et al., 2014a; Lendinez, et al., 2011), time (Bi, et al., 2014; Fischer-Baum & Benjamin, 2014), and volumetric grasp affordances (van Dijk, et al., 2014b). These reports provide support to the ATOM theory of magnitude (Walsh, 2003) suggesting an interplay between magnitude-related knowledge both in online and offline representations. Aims: We investigated the interplay between magnitude-related SNARC effect and objects’ microaffordances stored in memory. Method: We used the paradigm described in van Dijck et al. (2014b): Participants memorized objects with power- and precision-grip microaffordances before hearing an auditory number ([5/\5) in one of two voices. Participants were instructed to identify the voice and make a saccade: left to voice A/right to voice B in Experiment 1; up to voice A/down to voice B in experiment 2. Results: Initial results confirm that memorized microaffordances interacted with the magnitude of the perceived numbers in directing visual attention: Upward and rightward saccades were initiated faster after hearing larger numbers preceded by the presentation of a powergrip object while the reverse was true for the downward and leftward saccades.