Humans not only process and compare magnitude information such as size, duration, and number perceptually, but they also communicate about these properties using language. In this respect, a relevant class of lexical items are so-called scalar adjectives like ‘big’, ‘long’, ‘loud’, etc. which refer to magnitude information. It has been proposed that humans use an amodal and abstract representation format shared by different dimensions, called the generalized magnitude system (GMS). In this paper, we test the hypothesis that scalar adjectives are symbolic references to GMS representations, and, therefore, GMS gets involved in processing their meaning. Previously, a parallel hypothesis on the relation between number symbols and GMS representations has been tested with the size congruity paradigm. The results of these experiments showed interference between the processing of number symbols and the processing of physical (font-) size. In the first three experiments of the present study (total N=150), we used the size congruity paradigm and the same/different task to look at the potential interaction between physical size magnitude and numerical magnitude expressed by number words. In the subsequent three experiments (total N=149), we looked at a parallel potential interaction between physical size magnitude and scalar adjective meaning.

人类不仅在感知上处理和比较大小、持续时间和数量等幅度信息，而且还使用语言交流这些属性。在这方面，一类相关的词汇项目是所谓的标量形容词，如“大”、“长”、“响亮”等，它们涉及幅度信息。有人提出，人类使用一种由不同维度共享的模态和抽象表示格式，称为广义幅度系统 (GMS)。在本文中，我们检验了标量形容词是对 GMS 表示的符号引用的假设，因此，GMS 参与处理它们的含义。以前，一个关于数字符号和 GMS 表示之间关系的平行假设已经用大小一致性范式进行了测试。这些实验的结果表明数字符号的处理和物理（字体）大小的处理之间存在干扰。在本研究的前三个实验中（总共 N = 150），我们使用尺寸一致性范式和相同/不同的任务来观察物理尺寸大小与数字表示的数值大小之间的潜在相互作用。在随后的三个实验中（总 N = 149），我们研究了物理尺寸大小和标量形容词含义之间的平行潜在相互作用。我们使用尺寸一致性范式和相同/不同的任务来研究物理尺寸大小和由数字表示的数值大小之间的潜在相互作用。在随后的三个实验中（总 N = 149），我们研究了物理尺寸大小和标量形容词含义之间的平行潜在相互作用。我们使用尺寸一致性范式和相同/不同的任务来研究物理尺寸大小和由数字表示的数值大小之间的潜在相互作用。在随后的三个实验中（总 N = 149），我们研究了物理尺寸大小和标量形容词含义之间的平行潜在相互作用。