An ERP investigation of symbolic and nonsymbolic fraction processing

Fractions, though important, pose significant difficulties for children and adults. It has been suggested that this difficulty may stem from a lack of an underlying cognitive system that allows us direct, intuitive access to fraction magnitude. However, there is mounting evidence that processing ratios can indeed be intuitive (not accessed via explicit strategies). Currently, limitations in temporal resolution of previous studies means we still have little evidence of whether people have direct access to fraction magnitude, or whether they need to work through the whole-number numerator and denominator components to reach holistic fraction magnitude. We address limitations in temporal resolution by using event-related potentials (ERP) to analyze the time course of symbolic and nonsymbolic fraction processing. The improved temporal resolution with a fraction comparison task allow us to investigate whether access to fraction magnitude is both direct and intuitive. We find evidence for intra-fraction distance effects in P2p and holistic distance effects for nonsymbolic ratios in P3, providing evidence for a step-wise mechanism of fraction processing.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2019

Author dc:creator

• Jay, Victoria Lynn

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hyde, Daniel C

• fraction processing
• ratio processing
• event-related potential
• ERP

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2019 Victoria Jay

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/105868

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/105868