Notation-dependent Semantic Processing Of Numbers In Unconscious Conditions:the Evidence From Behavioral And ERP Research

There are many surface formats in the representation of number, and this is one of the most important features of the number. For example, Arabic number "4" can also be represented by Chinese number "四" Roman number "IV"、English number "four" and non-symbol number"::". Almost all the countries in the world have two notations of number; one is the Arabic number, which is the worldwide; and the other is the verbal number, which are from native language. Are verbal and Arabic numbers processed similarly or differently? To investigate whether the processing of numbers is notation-dependent or notation-independent in unconscious conditions, two notation numbers (Arabic numbers and Chinese numbers) were presented to participants.The size congruity paradigm was used in Experiment1, and the participants were asked to judge which number was the bigger in physical shape while the reaction times were recorded; we found that there were notation effect in unconscious condition (i.e., the physical task), that is, the RTs (reaction times) for Arabic numbers was shorter than for Chinese numbers; and there was significant difference between the SCE (the size congruity effect) of Arabic number and Chinese number. The results showed that the processing of number with different notation is different in the identification stage; when we see a number, regardless of the notation of the number, the value of the number can be auto activated, even in the unconscious conditions. However, the degree of the activation is different for the two kinds of notation. The results suggested that the processing of number is notation-dependent in unconscious processing condition.And in Experiment2, we used the three-stimulus oddball paradigm and asked the participants to response only to the small circle while the ERPs were recorded; we found that the amplitude of N200was different between the Arabic numbers and Chinese numbers, while the amplitude of P300was different between the two notations at the central parietal sites. N200amplitude differences of the Arabic number and Chinese number showed that the influence of notation has already began in the early recognition phase; P300amplitude differences of the different notation numbers reflects the difference in the semantic processing process.Behavioral and electrophysiological results from the two experiments revealed that notation could make a significant effect not only at the recognizing stage, but also at the semantic processing stage in the processing of numbers; so we supported the encoding-complex perspective and suggested that the processing of numbers is notation-dependent.