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In this study, we investigate the flexibility of the SNARC effect by using different number ranges in parity judgment of single-digit numbers.

A prominent theory assumes that the approximate number system (ANS), which is thought to be measured by non-symbolic magnitude comparison tasks, constitutes the basis for development of numerical skills. Recent studies showing influences of inhibition and visual strategies raise the question of what is measured with this task. Elderly people show age-related inhibitory decline, which can be intensified in Parkinson’s disease (PD) where inhibitory and visuo-spatial deficits occur. Therefore, PD-immanent inhibitory and visuo-spatial deficits in some patients allow for a quasi-experiment studying the influence of these cognitive domains on the performance in a typical ANS task. This enables inferring conclusions for the theory of number processing from this clinical population.

This study will be conducted online and investigates the Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect on one-digit numbers: Reacting to small numbers is faster with the left (compared to the right) response key and reacting to large numbers is faster with the right (compared to the left) response key. We utilize this effect to find out whether numbers are mentally mapped by their ordinal position (the position of the number in the sequentially ordered number set) or by their magnitude (absolute value of the number).

Background: Numerical cognition subsumes a wide range of tasks and underlying cognitive representations. The developmental approach on this domain mostly focuses on educational questions and changes up to young adulthood. However, lifespan research on cognition describes distinct patterns of decline, stability or improvement in at least some numerical domains. Therefore, the aim of the planned systematic review and meta-analysis is (1) to identify tasks and areas of numerical cognition showing improved, preserved, or impaired performance when comparing elderly and younger samples. (2) We aim at identifying moderators of development in numerical cognition such as inter-individual differences like global cognition, effects of cohort, gender, or education. (3) We want to find out when deficits occur in aging and whether the extent of impairment increases with age. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis will be conducted following PRISMA criteria. Electronic databases of published and unpublished studies will be searched for relevant articles with predefined search terms. Studies are eligible if they report comparisons of an elderly sample with a younger control group regarding an empirical measure of numerical and/ or arithmetic function. Furthermore, studies reporting performance in a standardized test of numerical cognition with available age-specific reference norms will be included. Experimental case-control designs and group studies will be included. Studies not allowing to assess an age effect, only reporting neuro-imaging data and reviews will be excluded. Original study quality will be assessed with the ROBINS-I tool. Depending on the resulting data structure, meta-analyses will be conducted with random effects models or two-level models with nested effect sizes. Subgroups analyses regarding age groups will be conducted using meta-regression. Discussion: Results of the current review cannot only be used to update existing reviews, but also to systematize numerical and arithmetic performance associated to effects of aging in the light of both neurocognitive theories of numerical cognition and lifespan development. It has the potential to estimate changes in numerical cognition across aging up to old age. However, our systematic review and meta-analysis relies on the quality of the original studies and the quality of available risk of bias assessments.

In this study, we investigate the automaticity of the SNARC effect with light cyan vs. dark cyan color intensity judgment of single-digit numbers.

Magnitude information, for instance regarding weight, distance, or velocity, is crucial for planning goal-directed interactions. Accordingly, magnitude information, including numerical magnitude, can affect actions: Responses to small numbers are faster with the left compared to the right hand and vice versa (SNARC effect). Previous experiments found a strong influence of effector placement on the SNARC effect, but also the mere distance between effectors and numbers may affect the SNARC pattern. This indicates a sensorimotor grounding of magnitude processing. In the current study we will further investigate this grounding by probing the SNARC effect close and far from the hands. We are going to use a magnitude comparison task with a sagittal response arrangement to measure the horizontal and sagittal SNARC effect for digits presented at different sagittal distances to the hands. We expect to find a horizontal and a sagittal SNARC effect. Furthermore, we expect that both SNARC effects decrease with larger distance between digit and hands. A result pattern like this would indicate that the mental representation of numbers depends on the spatial arrangement of the effectors as well as on the perceived reachability of stimuli. Further, it would provide additional evidence for the assumed grounding of magnitude processing in the sensorimotor system.

This is a project accompanying a paper under working title "No Evidence for an Influence of Grammatical Number in Two-Digit Magnitude and Place-Value Processing in Adults" available on PsyArXiv. Additional materials will be added soon.

In this project we want to provide a general framework for investigating prevalence of cognitive phenomena comprising two conditions (e.g., compatible vs incompatible). We would use four different methods: psychometric, two bootstrapping approaches, and Bayesian modelling.

Working memory (WM) is a central aspect of human cognition and essential for daily activities. Reduced working memory capacities are found in a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders as well as in healthy older adults. Interactions between multiple brain areas through oscillatory synchronization of neuronal activity seem to be the functional basis of this complex and demanding cognitive function (Tavakoli & Yun, 2017; Violante et al., 2017). A meta-analysis showed that, especially the fronto-parietal network is involved in WM (Owen, McMillan, Laird & Bullmore, 2005) and oscillatory activity in the theta frequency (4 - 8 Hz) seems to organize these working memory processes (Reinhart & Nguyen, 2019). More specifically, reduced phase synchronization and phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) – both measures of functional connectivity – are associated with reduced working memory capacity (Reinhart & Nguyen, 2019). Following these findings, an optimization of deficient functional connectivity should result in WM improvement. Transcranial alternating brain stimulation (tACS) can entrain endogenous brain oscillations and modulate cognitive processes (Herrmann et al., 2013). Thus, tACS is considered as a promising method to reinstate impaired working memory performance. The effect of tACS depends on the phase in which it is delivered, the intensity, the fit of the stimulation parameters to the endogenous brain oscillations and the electrode location. In-phase tACS stimulation (phase of the tACS corresponds to the endogenous brain oscillations) seems to improve the underlying cognitive processes, whereas anti-phase tACS stimulation (phase of the tACS is contrary to the endogenous brain oscillations) seems to impair them (Reinhart & Nguyen, 2019). Intensity is positively correlated to the percentage of neurons entrained (Beliaeva & Polonia, 2020). The frequency of the tACS and the electrode location should correspond to the frequency and active brain area of the targeted cognitive process. Within this study, we aim to modulate spatial working memory performance through the application of theta tACS combined with a spatial working memory training. A transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) study showed an additional effect of non-invasive brain stimulation on a working memory training (Ruf, Fallgatter, & Plewnia, 2017) and first evidence for a beneficial use of tACS to facilitate working memory already exists (Alekseichuk et al., 2017). We will investigate possible near and far-transfer effects of tACS during a working memory training and aim to identify the mechanisms of action by using EEG. We assess changes in phase synchronization and phase-amplitude coupling, as well as event related potentials. We will further explore the influence of age, gender, and intelligence on the stimulation effect. The planned study is a randomized, sham-controlled, double-blind and between-subjects design with three groups and repeated measurements. Following groups will be compared: 1) in-phase theta tACS over the right prefrontal and parietal cortex, 2) anti-phase theta tACS over the right prefrontal and parietal cortex, 3) sham-stimulation. The working memory training consists of three training sessions utilizing an adaptive spatial n-back task. The adaptive property of the task ensures continuous high task demand. The results of the study will provide important implications for tACS as an augmentation strategy to reinstate impaired working memory and will give further insights in the mechanisms of action of tACS.

Supplementary materials to the paper "A gifted SNARC? Directional spatial-numerical associations in gifted children do not differ from controls" published in Psychological Research (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-020-01354-9). Shared materials comprise raw data and analysis scripts.

Stage 1 IPA at PCI RR

Investigating the prevalence of the SNARC effect.

Supplementary material to the paper "The SNARC and MARC effects measured online: Large-scale assessment methods in flexible cognitive effects" published in Behavior Research Methods. DOI: 10.3758/s13428-019-01213-5

In this study, we investigate the automaticity of the SNARC effect with blue vs. yellow color judgment of single-digit numbers.

This is the supplementary material to the paper "Professional mathematicians do not differ from others in the symbolic numerical distance and size effects" published in Scientific Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68202-z

This meta-analysis aims at investigating the relation between math anxiety and math performance. Thereby, this meta-analysis will account for math self-concept and math self-efficacy and sets out to identify moderators of this relation.