We are pleased to invite to the second session of Krakow Seminar on Mathematical Cognition, a monthly event series hosted by the Mathematical Cognition and Learning Lab.
The seminar is designed for anyone interested in the broad scope of topics related to mathematical cognition - from the neural mechanisms of numerical processing and the evolutionary roots of these skills to the science of mathematical learning and effective educational interventions. The meetings take place every second Tuesday of the month, held in a hybrid format: in-person at the MCLL laboratory and online.
For our second session on Tuesday, March 10th, we are honored to welcome Hakan Çetinkaya (Yaşar University), who will join us online to discuss how the associations between space and numbers may change depending on the task context.
Hakan Çetinkaya is Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience at Yaşar University (İzmir, Türkiye), where he also serves as Dean of the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences. He received his B.A. in Psychology from Hacettepe University and his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology/Behavioral Neuroscience from The University of Texas at Austin. His work in mathematical cognition focuses on spatial–numerical associations and how task structure, minimal spatial context, and embodied cues shape number–space mappings in controlled reaction-time paradigms. He is a member of the Space-Magnitude Associations Research Team (SMART-Lab). His research spans hemispheric asymmetries and specialization in humans and animals, spatial–numerical associations, memory and inhibitory spreading effects, evolutionary models of mind organization, and the organizational and activational effects of sex hormones (e.g., estrogen, testosterone) and neuropeptides (e.g., oxytocin, vasopressin) on cognition. He has also conducted research on post-traumatic stress and anxiety through interventions targeting memory reconsolidation mechanisms.
Horizontal spatial-numerical associations are often interpreted as reflecting a stable left-to-right “mental number line”. In this talk, I argue that horizontal number-space mappings are better understood as an emergent product of space made available by the task and contextual/embodied constraints that tune spatial coding. Evidence from a magnitude-classification go/no-go paradigm shows that spatial-numerical compatibility may be absent when the task is truly spatially neutral, yet becomes reliable when the environment provides only minimal spatial scaffolding, such as noninformative lateral placeholders that nevertheless introduce left-right structure into the task-set. Within the same general framework, contextual cues that bias spatial codes, such as visual hand primes, can systematically guide mapping during magnitude judgments, producing prime-dependent modulations in number-space correspondence. Extending the context dependence beyond visual cues, changes in sensorimotor state (e.g., static hand posture while responding with the feet) also reshape the expression of SNARC-like effects, together with robust control dynamics such as block-order influences. Taken together, the findings suggest that “left” and “right” in numerical cognition are not fixed properties of magnitude representations; rather, they arise when minimal spatial structure and embodied context jointly configure the spatial codes recruited for decision-making. The talk discusses how these findings inform context-sensitive and task-based models of number-space interactions.
