Local/global visual processing impacts numerosity-magnitude conflict resolution

In non-symbolic numerical comparison tasks (Approximate Number System or ANS tasks) where participants determine which of two dot arrays is more numerous, judgments can be biased by irrelevant non-numerical dimensions of magnitude, such as dot size or the total occupied area. While inhibition may help overcome these conflicts, the mechanisms guiding attention toward relevant numerical information remain unclear. We hypothesized that modes of attentional processing - focusing on individual elements (local processing) versus the overall configuration (global processing) - may influence how participants resolve numerical conflicts. Fifty-four adults (Mage = 32.07 years, SD = 11.38) completed ANS trials preceded by prime items designed to activate either a local or global processing mode, or no prime in a control condition. Global priming did not significantly affect performance, while local priming modulated numerosity/magnitude conflicts across magnitude dimensions, notably reducing the impact of convex hull. These findings shed light on how perceptual modes impact adults’ ability to extract numerical information in the face of visual conflict.