Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Midpoint: A Tool to Build Artificial Models of Numerical Cognition

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Understanding the Brain Function and Emotions (IWINAC 2019)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 11486))

Abstract

The present paper describes a tool developed to model and simulate tasks related to numerical cognition, a very important element of both animal and human cognition. In particular, we describe how this software has been used to study a bias that has been consistently observed in humans, both adults and children, about the calculation of the middle point between two numbers and related with the position of numbers in intervals, called NIPE (number interval position effect). Along with the description of the software and the experimental results about the NIPE effect, some results are reported which show the potential of this approach.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Spelke, E.S., Kinzler, K.D.: Core knowledge. Dev. Sci. 10(1), 89–96 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Zorzi, M., Priftis, K., Umiltà, C.: Neglect disrupts the mental number line. Nature 417, 138 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Chittka, L., Geiger, K.: Can honey bees count landmarks? Anim. Behav. 49(1), 159–164 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Dehaene, S.: Varieties of numerical abilities. Cognition 44(1), 1–42 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Dehaene, S., Bossini, S., Giraux, P.: The mental representation of parity and number magnitude. J. Exp. Psychol.: Gener. 122(3), 371–396 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Dehaene, S., Molko, N., Cohen, L., Wilson, A.J.: Arithmetic and the brain. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 14(2), 218–224 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Aiello, M., Merola, S., Doricchi, F.: Small numbers in the right brain: evidence from patients without and with spatial neglect. Cortex 49(1), 348–351 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Di Ferdinando, A., Parisi, D., Bartolomeo, P.: Modeling orienting behavior and its disorders with “ecological” neural networks. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 19(6), 1033–1049 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Doricchi, F., et al.: Spatial orienting biases in the decimal numeral system. Curr. Biol. 19(8), 682–687 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Gigliotta, O., Bartolomeo, P., Miglino, O.: Approaching neuropsychological tasks through adaptive neurorobots. Connection Sci. 27(2), 153–163 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Gilmore, C., Attridge, N., Inglis, M.: Measuring the approximate number system. Q. J. Exp. Psychol. 64(11), 2099–2109 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Halberda, J., Feigenson, L.: Developmental change in the acuity of the “Number Sense”: the approximate number system in 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds and adults. Dev. Psychol. 44(5), 1457 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Matsuzawa, T.: Use of numbers by a chimpanzee. Nature 315(6014), 57–59 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Miglino, O., Ponticorvo, M.: Place cognition as an example of situated cognition: a study with evolved agents. Cogn. Process. 10(2), 250–252 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Miglino, O., Ponticorvo, M.: Exploring the roots of (spatial) cognition in artificial and natural organisms. Evol. Robot. Approach Horiz. Evol. Robot. 93–123 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Miglino, O., Ponticorvo, M., Bartolomeo, P.: Place cognition and active perception: a study with evolved robots. Connection Sci. 21(1), 3–14 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Nieder, A., Miller, E.K.: Coding of cognitive magnitude: compressed scaling of numerical information in the primate prefrontal cortex. Neuron 37(1), 149–157 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Ponticorvo, M., Rotondaro, F., Doricchi, F., Miglino, O.: A neural model of number interval position effect (NIPE) in children. In: Ferrández Vicente, J.M., Álvarez-Sánchez, J.R., de la Paz López, F., Toledo-Moreo, F.J., Adeli, H. (eds.) IWINAC 2015. LNCS, vol. 9107, pp. 9–18. Springer, Cham (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18914-7_2

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  19. Ponticorvo, M., Miglino, O.: Encoding geometric and non-geometric information: a study with evolved agents. Anim. Cogn. 13(1), 157 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Ponticorvo, M., Walker, R., Miglino, O.: Evolutionary robotics as a tool to investigate spatial cognition in artificial and natural systems. In: Artificial Cognition Systems, pp. 210–237 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Reuter-Lorenz, P.A., Posner, M.I.: Components of neglect from right-hemisphere damage: an analysis of line bisection. Neuropsychologia 28(4), 327–333 (1990)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Rotondaro, F., Gazzellini, S., Peris, M., Doricchi, F.: The mental number line in children: number interval bisection and number to position performance. Poster presented at the European Workshop Cognitive Neuroscience 2012, Bressanone, Italy (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Stoianov, I., Zorzi, M.: Emergence of a ‘visual number sense’ in hierarchical generative models. Nat. Neurosci. 15(2), 194–196 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Urbanski, M., et al.: Negligence spatiale unilaterale: une consequence dramatique mais souvent negligee des lesions de l’hemisphere droit. Revue Neurologique 163(3), 305–322 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Rotondaro, F., et al.: The number interval position effect (NIPE) in the mental bisection of numerical intervals might reflect the influence of the decimal-number system on the Gaussian representations of numerosities: a combined developmental and computational-modeling study. Cortex (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Doricchi, F., et al.: Spatial orienting biases in the decimal numeral system. Curr. Biol. 19(8), 682–7 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Geary, D., Berch, D.B., Mann, K. (eds.): Evolutionary Origins and Early Development of Number Processing. Academic Press, Cambridge (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Rencher, A.C.: Methods of Multivariate Analysis. Wiley, Hoboken (2002)

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  29. Piazza, M., Izard, V., Pinel, P., Bihan, D.L., Dehaene, S.: Tuning curves for approximate numerosity in the human intraparietal sulcus. Neuron 44(3), 547–555 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Broz, F., et al.: The ITALK project: a developmental robotics approach to the study of individual, social, and linguistic learning. Top. Cogn. Sci. 6(3), 534–544 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Gigliotta, O., Malkinson, T.S., Miglino, O., Bartolomeo, P.: Pseudoneglect in visual search: behavioral evidence and connectional constraints in simulated neural circuitry. eNeuro 4(6) (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Pacella, D., Ponticorvo, M., Gigliotta, O., Miglino, O.: Basic emotions and adaptation. A computational and evolutionary model. PLOS ONE 12(11), 1–20 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Pagliuca, P., Milano, N., Nolfi, S.: Maximizing adaptive power in neuroevolution. PLOS ONE 13(7), e0198788 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Cerrato, A., Ponticorvo, M.: Enhancing neuropsychological testing with gamification and tangible interfaces: the baking tray task. In: Ferrández Vicente, J.M., Álvarez-Sánchez, J.R., de la Paz López, F., Toledo Moreo, J., Adeli, H. (eds.) IWINAC 2017. LNCS, vol. 10338, pp. 147–156. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59773-7_16

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy

    Onofrio Gigliotta, Michela Ponticorvo & Orazio Miglino

  2. Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Rome, Italy

    Orazio Miglino

  3. University of Rome “Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

    Fabrizio Doricchi

Authors
  1. Onofrio Gigliotta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michela Ponticorvo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Fabrizio Doricchi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Orazio Miglino
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Onofrio Gigliotta .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain

    José Manuel Ferrández Vicente

  2. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain

    José Ramón Álvarez-Sánchez

  3. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Félix de la Paz López

  4. Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain

    Javier Toledo Moreo

  5. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Hojjat Adeli

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Gigliotta, O., Ponticorvo, M., Doricchi, F., Miglino, O. (2019). Midpoint: A Tool to Build Artificial Models of Numerical Cognition. In: Ferrández Vicente, J., Álvarez-Sánchez, J., de la Paz López, F., Toledo Moreo, J., Adeli, H. (eds) Understanding the Brain Function and Emotions. IWINAC 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11486. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19591-5_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19591-5_10

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-19590-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-19591-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation