Project Details
Projekt
Talking Numbers - Language influences on number processing across the lifespan
Subject Area
General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
Term
since 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 529065866
Acquiring number words is crucial for developing basic numerical competencies. Linguistic irregularities of number naming systems, such as inverted number words (e.g., the German number word for 32 translates to “two-and-thirty”), affect numerical skills and their development, and language impairments can be associated with impaired numerical processing. The relationship between language and number processing, however, is still discussed. Crucially, the scientific discourse and the transfer of study results across nations are aggravated by the varying number word syntax and their transparency (e.g., English, German, French). Talking Numbers (TALKNUM) takes a cross-linguistic approach to specify the association of language and number processes in French and German. Both languages are particularly suited because they cover different levels of number word syntax complexity (i.e., transparent, intransparent with low complexity, intransparent with high complexity). We capitalize on these complexity differences to conclude (cross-)linguistic influences on the different levels of place-value processing (i.e., place-value identification, activation, and manipulation) and relate these levels to individual language skills at the three linguistic layers (i.e., phonology, morphology, and syntax). Our research in TALKNUM will investigate these relationships on a behavioral, neurofunctional (fMRI), and neurostructural level (MRI using univariate and multivariate lesion-behavior mapping and disconnectome mapping analyses) in French and German-speaking persons for a direct comparison of both number word systems. Three age groups (i.e., children, adults, and older adults) will be recruited to gain knowledge on age-related changes. In addition, the effect of typical and impaired language processing (children with and without developmental language disorders and stroke patients) will be evaluated. Knowledge gained from this project is vital to conclude the effect of language in general and language impairment on number processing in particular. By systematically evaluating neurofunctional and neurostructural correlates underlying common subprocesses of linguistic and number word processing, this research will contribute to theoretical knowledge of how and at what level of place-value processing linguistic levels are intertwined. This knowledge will aid in developing specific cross-domain therapeutic approaches for number and/or language disorders in diverse populations.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
International Connection
France
Partner Organisation
Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency
Cooperation Partner
Dr. Elise Klein
