Eye gaze reveals a fast, parallel extraction of the syntax of arithmetic formulas

Autores
Shneider, Elisa; Maruyama, Masaki; Dehaene, Stanislas; Sigman, Mariano
Año de publicación
2012
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
Mathematics shares with language an essential reliance on the human capacity for recursion, permitting the generation of an infinite range of embedded expressions from a finite set of symbols. We studied the role of syntax in arithmetic thinking, a neglected component of numerical cognition, by examining eye movement sequences during the calculation of arithmetic expressions. Specifically, we investigated whether, similar to language, an expression has to be scanned sequentially while the nested syntactic structure is being computed or, alternatively, whether this structure can be extracted quickly and in parallel. Our data provide evidence for the latter: fixations sequences were stereotypically organized in clusters that reflected a fast identification of syntactic embeddings. A syntactically relevant pattern of eye movement was observed even when syntax was defined by implicit procedural rules (precedence of multiplication over addition) rather than explicit parentheses. While the total number of fixations was determined by syntax, the duration of each fixation varied with the complexity of the arithmetic operation at each step. These findings provide strong evidence for a syntactic organization for arithmetic thinking, paving the way for further comparative analysis of differences and coincidences in the instantiation of recursion in language and mathematics. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.
Fil: Shneider, Elisa. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física. Laboratorio de Neurociencia Integrativa; Argentina
Fil: Maruyama, Masaki. Université de Paris XI; Francia
Fil: Dehaene, Stanislas. Université de Paris XI; Francia
Fil: Sigman, Mariano. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física. Laboratorio de Neurociencia Integrativa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; Argentina
Materia
Arithmetic
Cognitive Architecture
Gestalt
Language
Mathematical Education
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/56114
Acceder
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spelling Eye gaze reveals a fast, parallel extraction of the syntax of arithmetic formulasShneider, ElisaMaruyama, MasakiDehaene, StanislasSigman, MarianoArithmeticCognitive ArchitectureGestaltLanguageMathematical EducationMathematics shares with language an essential reliance on the human capacity for recursion, permitting the generation of an infinite range of embedded expressions from a finite set of symbols. We studied the role of syntax in arithmetic thinking, a neglected component of numerical cognition, by examining eye movement sequences during the calculation of arithmetic expressions. Specifically, we investigated whether, similar to language, an expression has to be scanned sequentially while the nested syntactic structure is being computed or, alternatively, whether this structure can be extracted quickly and in parallel. Our data provide evidence for the latter: fixations sequences were stereotypically organized in clusters that reflected a fast identification of syntactic embeddings. A syntactically relevant pattern of eye movement was observed even when syntax was defined by implicit procedural rules (precedence of multiplication over addition) rather than explicit parentheses. While the total number of fixations was determined by syntax, the duration of each fixation varied with the complexity of the arithmetic operation at each step. These findings provide strong evidence for a syntactic organization for arithmetic thinking, paving the way for further comparative analysis of differences and coincidences in the instantiation of recursion in language and mathematics. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.Fil: Shneider, Elisa. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física. Laboratorio de Neurociencia Integrativa; ArgentinaFil: Maruyama, Masaki. Université de Paris XI; FranciaFil: Dehaene, Stanislas. Université de Paris XI; FranciaFil: Sigman, Mariano. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física. Laboratorio de Neurociencia Integrativa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaElsevier2012-12info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/56114Shneider, Elisa; Maruyama, Masaki; Dehaene, Stanislas; Sigman, Mariano; Eye gaze reveals a fast, parallel extraction of the syntax of arithmetic formulas; Elsevier; Cognition; 125; 3; 12-2012; 475-4901873-7838CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.06.015info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-10-15T14:26:51Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/56114instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-10-15 14:26:51.788CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Eye gaze reveals a fast, parallel extraction of the syntax of arithmetic formulas
title Eye gaze reveals a fast, parallel extraction of the syntax of arithmetic formulas
spellingShingle Eye gaze reveals a fast, parallel extraction of the syntax of arithmetic formulas
Shneider, Elisa
Arithmetic
Cognitive Architecture
Gestalt
Language
Mathematical Education
title_short Eye gaze reveals a fast, parallel extraction of the syntax of arithmetic formulas
title_full Eye gaze reveals a fast, parallel extraction of the syntax of arithmetic formulas
title_fullStr Eye gaze reveals a fast, parallel extraction of the syntax of arithmetic formulas
title_full_unstemmed Eye gaze reveals a fast, parallel extraction of the syntax of arithmetic formulas
title_sort Eye gaze reveals a fast, parallel extraction of the syntax of arithmetic formulas
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Shneider, Elisa
Maruyama, Masaki
Dehaene, Stanislas
Sigman, Mariano
author Shneider, Elisa
author_facet Shneider, Elisa
Maruyama, Masaki
Dehaene, Stanislas
Sigman, Mariano
author_role author
author2 Maruyama, Masaki
Dehaene, Stanislas
Sigman, Mariano
author2_role author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Arithmetic
Cognitive Architecture
Gestalt
Language
Mathematical Education
topic Arithmetic
Cognitive Architecture
Gestalt
Language
Mathematical Education
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv Mathematics shares with language an essential reliance on the human capacity for recursion, permitting the generation of an infinite range of embedded expressions from a finite set of symbols. We studied the role of syntax in arithmetic thinking, a neglected component of numerical cognition, by examining eye movement sequences during the calculation of arithmetic expressions. Specifically, we investigated whether, similar to language, an expression has to be scanned sequentially while the nested syntactic structure is being computed or, alternatively, whether this structure can be extracted quickly and in parallel. Our data provide evidence for the latter: fixations sequences were stereotypically organized in clusters that reflected a fast identification of syntactic embeddings. A syntactically relevant pattern of eye movement was observed even when syntax was defined by implicit procedural rules (precedence of multiplication over addition) rather than explicit parentheses. While the total number of fixations was determined by syntax, the duration of each fixation varied with the complexity of the arithmetic operation at each step. These findings provide strong evidence for a syntactic organization for arithmetic thinking, paving the way for further comparative analysis of differences and coincidences in the instantiation of recursion in language and mathematics. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.
Fil: Shneider, Elisa. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física. Laboratorio de Neurociencia Integrativa; Argentina
Fil: Maruyama, Masaki. Université de Paris XI; Francia
Fil: Dehaene, Stanislas. Université de Paris XI; Francia
Fil: Sigman, Mariano. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física. Laboratorio de Neurociencia Integrativa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; Argentina
description Mathematics shares with language an essential reliance on the human capacity for recursion, permitting the generation of an infinite range of embedded expressions from a finite set of symbols. We studied the role of syntax in arithmetic thinking, a neglected component of numerical cognition, by examining eye movement sequences during the calculation of arithmetic expressions. Specifically, we investigated whether, similar to language, an expression has to be scanned sequentially while the nested syntactic structure is being computed or, alternatively, whether this structure can be extracted quickly and in parallel. Our data provide evidence for the latter: fixations sequences were stereotypically organized in clusters that reflected a fast identification of syntactic embeddings. A syntactically relevant pattern of eye movement was observed even when syntax was defined by implicit procedural rules (precedence of multiplication over addition) rather than explicit parentheses. While the total number of fixations was determined by syntax, the duration of each fixation varied with the complexity of the arithmetic operation at each step. These findings provide strong evidence for a syntactic organization for arithmetic thinking, paving the way for further comparative analysis of differences and coincidences in the instantiation of recursion in language and mathematics. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.
publishDate 2012
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2012-12
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/56114
Shneider, Elisa; Maruyama, Masaki; Dehaene, Stanislas; Sigman, Mariano; Eye gaze reveals a fast, parallel extraction of the syntax of arithmetic formulas; Elsevier; Cognition; 125; 3; 12-2012; 475-490
1873-7838
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/56114
identifier_str_mv Shneider, Elisa; Maruyama, Masaki; Dehaene, Stanislas; Sigman, Mariano; Eye gaze reveals a fast, parallel extraction of the syntax of arithmetic formulas; Elsevier; Cognition; 125; 3; 12-2012; 475-490
1873-7838
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.06.015
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
reponame_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
collection CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname_str Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.name.fl_str_mv CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.mail.fl_str_mv dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar
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score 13.22299

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