Numbers (and especially left digits) bias perception of physical distance

What is it about?

Numbers that share the same left digit (e.g., 2 and 2.5) are localized closer in a 2D, circular space (representing a clock-face) as compared to equidistant numbers sharing no overlap of the left digit (e.g., 2.5 and 3), regardless of whether visual feedback is available to participants.

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Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash

Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The results extend the available evidence supporting the left digit bias (overweighting of leftmost over rightward digits) to manual pointing in bidimensional space, beyond commonly used number-line estimation tasks.