Influence des systèmes de notation des nombres sur les mécanismes d'encodage et de traitements numériques

Noël, Marie-Pascale [UCL]

Numbers can be represented by a variety of scripts (for example: 3, three, III, ***, ...). This paper reviews the research which has compared these different writing systems of numbers. Two main categories of works are distinguished: those examining the difference at the encoding stage and those looking at an influence of the notational systems upon the numerical processing itself. The former test the hypothesis of different encoding strategies according to the type of notational system used by suggesting that whereas lexical access could occur directly from the visual representation for Arabic numbers, number-words would require an initial translation of the printed word into a phonological code to access the word's meaning. However, experimental results, obtained through a variety of experimental paradigms (articulatory supression, Stroop, hemifield presentation) do not support such a hypothesis. Other works have dealt with the numerical processes themselves and have tried to see if the different notational systems exerted an influence upon the processing such as magnitude comparison or mental calculation. These works are scarce and do not allow to eliminate an interpretation based on differential speed of encoding rather than different processing. Suggestions for further research are presented.