Semantic Alignment of Fractions and Decimals with Discrete Versus Continuous Entities: A Cross-national Comparison

Hee Seung Lee; Melissa DeWolf; Miriam Bassok; Keith J. Holyoak

Semantic Alignment of Fractions and Decimals with Discrete Versus Continuous Entities: A Cross-national Comparison

Hee Seung Lee, Melissa DeWolf, Miriam Bassok, Keith J. Holyoak

Department of Education

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

Previous work has shown that adults in the United States selectively use fractions and decimals to model discrete and continuous entities, respectively. However, it is unclear whether this apparent semantic alignment between the format of rational numbers and quantitative ontology is specific to the American education system, the English language, or measuring conventions (primarily imperial measures). Here we test whether similar alignments hold for Korean college students who differ from American students in educational background, language, and measurement conventions. Across three experiments, we found that the alignments found in the United States were generally replicated in South Korea. Relative to Americans, Korean students showed an overall bias towards using continuous representations, perhaps related to their exclusive use of the metric measurement system and to differences in instructional practice identified in a textbook analysis.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015
Editors	David C. Noelle, Rick Dale, Anne Warlaumont, Jeff Yoshimi, Teenie Matlock, Carolyn D. Jennings, Paul P. Maglio
Publisher	The Cognitive Science Society
Pages	1261-1266
Number of pages	6
ISBN (Electronic)	9780991196722
Publication status	Published - 2015
Event	37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Mind, Technology, and Society, CogSci 2015 - Pasadena, United States Duration: 2015 Jul 23 → 2015 Jul 25

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015

Conference

Conference	37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Mind, Technology, and Society, CogSci 2015
Country/Territory	United States
City	Pasadena
Period	15/7/23 → 15/7/25

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Preparation of this paper was supported by NSF Fellowship DGE-1144087 to Melissa DeWolf.

Publisher Copyright:
© Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015.All rights reserved.

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Artificial Intelligence
Computer Science Applications
Human-Computer Interaction
Cognitive Neuroscience

Cite this

Lee, H. S., DeWolf, M., Bassok, M., & Holyoak, K. J. (2015). Semantic Alignment of Fractions and Decimals with Discrete Versus Continuous Entities: A Cross-national Comparison. In D. C. Noelle, R. Dale, A. Warlaumont, J. Yoshimi, T. Matlock, C. D. Jennings, & P. P. Maglio (Eds.), Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015 (pp. 1261-1266). (Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015). The Cognitive Science Society.

Lee, Hee Seung ; DeWolf, Melissa ; Bassok, Miriam et al. / Semantic Alignment of Fractions and Decimals with Discrete Versus Continuous Entities : A Cross-national Comparison. Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015. editor / David C. Noelle ; Rick Dale ; Anne Warlaumont ; Jeff Yoshimi ; Teenie Matlock ; Carolyn D. Jennings ; Paul P. Maglio. The Cognitive Science Society, 2015. pp. 1261-1266 (Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015).

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abstract = "Previous work has shown that adults in the United States selectively use fractions and decimals to model discrete and continuous entities, respectively. However, it is unclear whether this apparent semantic alignment between the format of rational numbers and quantitative ontology is specific to the American education system, the English language, or measuring conventions (primarily imperial measures). Here we test whether similar alignments hold for Korean college students who differ from American students in educational background, language, and measurement conventions. Across three experiments, we found that the alignments found in the United States were generally replicated in South Korea. Relative to Americans, Korean students showed an overall bias towards using continuous representations, perhaps related to their exclusive use of the metric measurement system and to differences in instructional practice identified in a textbook analysis.",

author = "Lee, {Hee Seung} and Melissa DeWolf and Miriam Bassok and Holyoak, {Keith J.}",

note = "Funding Information: Preparation of this paper was supported by NSF Fellowship DGE-1144087 to Melissa DeWolf. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015.All rights reserved.; 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Mind, Technology, and Society, CogSci 2015 ; Conference date: 23-07-2015 Through 25-07-2015",

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Lee, HS, DeWolf, M, Bassok, M & Holyoak, KJ 2015, Semantic Alignment of Fractions and Decimals with Discrete Versus Continuous Entities: A Cross-national Comparison. in DC Noelle, R Dale, A Warlaumont, J Yoshimi, T Matlock, CD Jennings & PP Maglio (eds), Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015. Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015, The Cognitive Science Society, pp. 1261-1266, 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Mind, Technology, and Society, CogSci 2015, Pasadena, United States, 15/7/23.

Semantic Alignment of Fractions and Decimals with Discrete Versus Continuous Entities : A Cross-national Comparison. / Lee, Hee Seung; DeWolf, Melissa; Bassok, Miriam et al.

Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015. ed. / David C. Noelle; Rick Dale; Anne Warlaumont; Jeff Yoshimi; Teenie Matlock; Carolyn D. Jennings; Paul P. Maglio. The Cognitive Science Society, 2015. p. 1261-1266 (Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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Lee HS, DeWolf M, Bassok M, Holyoak KJ. Semantic Alignment of Fractions and Decimals with Discrete Versus Continuous Entities: A Cross-national Comparison. In Noelle DC, Dale R, Warlaumont A, Yoshimi J, Matlock T, Jennings CD, Maglio PP, editors, Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015. The Cognitive Science Society. 2015. p. 1261-1266. (Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2015).

Semantic Alignment of Fractions and Decimals with Discrete Versus Continuous Entities: A Cross-national Comparison

Abstract

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Bibliographical note

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

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