Linguistic Influences on Numerical Cognition: A cross-cultural investigation using natural specificities of Polish and German languages

语言对数字认知的影响多年来一直被忽视，一直认为中央语义数字加工在很大程度上没有语言影响。然而，近年来的大量研究表明，不同的语言方面对数字处理的几乎所有领域都产生了重大影响。在这里，我们将重点关注数词的语法属性，这是在婴儿年龄之前从未研究过的。该项目是第一个在这种跨语言方法中利用波兰语和德语（以及一些对照研究中的英语）语言的自然特性的项目。与德语中明确的规则（1个数字是单数，其他数字都是复数）相比，波兰语中数字词的语法属性要复杂得多。例如，动词的形式随着数字的变化而变化：单数为1，复数为2-4，单数为5-9；21、31等为单数，22-24、32-34等为复数，25-29、35-39等为单数。基于婴儿文学的早期语法影响，以及其他语言影响持续到成年，我们假设上述不规则性也会影响数字认知。第一个研究线将系统地检验这一假设，包括学龄前儿童、小学儿童和成人的个位数。第二条研究线将集中在对多位数的语法影响上，德语在数字词的词汇构成方面具有特殊的不规则性：其组成元素的顺序是颠倒的（1和20）。因此，所有影响多位数处理的语法方面将在波兰语，英语和德语中进行检查，以分离语法和词汇的语言影响。在整个项目中，所有跨语言研究将在不同的国家进行完全平行。除了行为数据（RT和错误）外，我们还首次在数字认知的跨语言环境中采用了fNIRS和眼动追踪等先进方法，以更好地探索驱动语言差异的潜在（神经）认知过程。我们相信，这样的基础研究将大大提高我们对数字发展和认知动力的理解。

Linguistic influences on numerical cognition have been neglected for years and it has been argued that central semantic number processing occurs largely without linguistic influences. However, the last years have seen a surge of studies showing that different linguistic aspects exert major influence on virtually all domains of numerical processing. Here we will focus on the grammatical attributes of number words, which have never been studied before beyond infant age. The project is the first to make use of the natural specificities of the Polish and German (and in some control studies English) languages in such a trans-lingual approach. In contrast to the transparent rules in German (1 singular, all other numbers plural), grammatical attributes of number words in Polish are much more complex. For instance, verb form changes with number: singular for 1, plural from 2-4, singular again from 5-9; singular for 21, 31 etc., plural for 22-24, 32-34 etc., singular for 25-29, 35-39 etc. Based on early grammatical effects in infant literature and because other linguistic influences persist into adulthood, we hypothesize that above irregularities also influence numerical cognition. The first research line will systematically examine this hypothesis for single-digit numbers in preschool children, elementary school children, and adults. The second research line will focus on grammatical influence on multi-digit numbers, for which German has a particular irregularity as regards the lexical composition of number words: The order of its constituent elements is inverted (one-and-twenty). Therefore, all grammatical aspects influencing multi-digit number processing will be examined in Polish, English and German to dissociate grammatical from lexical linguistic influences. Throughout the whole project, all trans-lingual studies will be conducted exactly parallelized in the different countries. Besides behavioral data (RT and errors), we included advanced methods like fNIRS and eye-tracking for the first time in a such a trans-lingual setting in numerical cognition to better explore underlying (neuro-)cognitive processes driving linguistic differences. We believe that such basic research will considerably improve our understanding of the impetuses of numerical development and cognition.