Multi-Digit Number Processing

Number processing and arithmetic have received increasingly more attention in recent years. Most of our everyday number processing involves multi-digit numbers (e.g., money, prices, times, dates). However, much of the research in the field so far has focused on single-digit number processing. This mismatch between the research stimuli and the ecologically encountered numbers has inspired this topical issue.

Some basic cognitive effects obtained with single-digit numbers transfer to multi-digit numbers as well (e.g., distance effect and SNARC effect). However, other cognitive mechanisms such as the representation of the place-value system cannot be studied with single-digit numbers; for their investigation, multi-digit material is inherently necessary. In recent years, multi-digit number processing has received more attention, and its cognitive consequences (e.g., carry-over effect in addition, borrowing effect in subtraction, consistency effect in multiplication, compatibility effect in magnitude comparison, nominator and denominator relation in fractions) have been examined more closely.

The current topical issue of the Zeitschrift für Psychologie / Journal of Psychology picks up on this more recent research and theory development in different tasks and paradigms which involve the cognitive management of multi-digit number representations. We therefore invite the submission of abstracts of empirical articles from a wide variety of methodological perspectives and paradigms. Contributions focusing on intact and impaired multi-digit number processing in adults, their typical and atypical development in children, the neurocognitive underpinnings of multi-digit number processing, or individual or group differences are welcome. Articles which link different aspects of multi-digit number processing across different tasks are also well suited for this topical issue.

Submissions about multi-digit number processing that focus on, but are not limited to, the following topics are particularly welcome:

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  Elementary calculation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)
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  Basic number processing (magnitude comparison, parity judgement, number bisection)
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  Processing of fractions
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  Processing of decimal numbers
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  Processing of probabilities and (cumulative) frequencies
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  Multi-digit number representations (magnitude, parity, multiplication facts, fractions, integers and non-integers, probabilities, symbolic and non-symbolic representation of multi-digit numbers).

We invite scholars from various disciplines, such as cognitive (neuro-)psychology, developmental psychology, or educational sciences, to submit abstracts of their proposed articles to Hans-Christoph Nuerk (mailto:hc.nuerk@uni-tuebingen.de).

For additional information, please contact any of the special issue editors: Hans-Christoph Nuerk (mailto:hc.nuerk@uni-tuebingen.de), Martin H. Fischer (mailto:m.h.fischer@dundee.ac.uk), or Klaus Willmes (mailto:willmes@neuropsych.rwth-aachen.de).

There is a two-stage submission process. Initially, authors are requested to submit only abstracts of their proposed papers. All proposals will be subject to editorial review. In the second stage, selected authors will be encouraged to submit full articles. All submitted articles will then undergo full peer review.

Deadline for submission of abstracts is February 15, 2010.

Deadline for submission of full articles is May 1, 2010.

The journal seeks to maintain a short turnaround time, with the final version of the accepted papers being due by August 15, 2010. The topical issue will be published as issue 1 (2011).

The Zeitschrift für Psychologie / Journal of Psychology was founded in 1890 and is the second oldest psychology journal in the world. One of the founding editors was Hermann Ebbinghaus. Since 2007, it is published in English and is devoted to publishing topical issues that provide state-of-the-art reviews of current research in psychology.

Guidelines for article preparation:

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  Only English-language submissions can be considered.
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  Contributions must be original (not published previously or currently under review for publication elsewhere).
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  Regular articles should not exceed 45,000 characters and spaces in length, including references, figures, and tables (allowances for figures and tables should be deducted on the basis of size – approximately 1,250 characters for a quarter-page figure/table).
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  Other submission formats (research summaries, opinion pieces, etc.) may be considered, please contact the editors for details.
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  Reference citations in the text and in the reference list should be in accordance with the principles set out in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.) – see also any recent issue of the journal.
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  Submissions should be typeset in a standard font such as Times/Times New Roman 12 pt, with a margin of 3 cm.
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  Illustrations and tables must be submitted on a separate page.

For detailed author guidelines, please see the journal’s website at http://www.hogrefe.com/journals/zfp.