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Psychological Reports, 2010, 107, 2, 443-446. © Psychological Reports 2010
DOI 10.2466/04.10.11.22.PR0.107.5.443-446 ISSN 0033-2941
THE ODD EFFECT AND MULTIPLE MEANINGS IN
ENGLISH OF THE WORDS “ODD” AND “EVEN”1
TERENCE M. HINES
Psychology Department
Pace University
Summary.—Under a variety of conditions, people take longer to make judg-
ments about odd than about even digits and digit names. In English the words
“odd” and “even” have multiple meanings. Perhaps the multiple meanings of these
words are responsible for the slowing of responses to odd stimuli. This hypothesis
was tested using participants who spoke no English and in whose native language,
Polish, the words for the mathematical concepts of odd and even do not have mul-
tiple meanings.
-
ditions, it takes people longer to make judgments about odd than about
“odd” is a linguistically marked concept while “even” is unmarked and
noted evidence that marked adjectives require greater processing time.
The unmarked adjective in a pair has a lower word frequency and can take
-
-
tive pair before they learn the marked member (E. Clark, 1973; H. Clark,
1973). Hines reanalyzed data from two early studies (Clapp, 1924; Knight
& Behrens, 1928) of the ease with which children learned arithmetic prob-
lems. Both studies showed that children take longer to learn sums of two
100 single-digit addition problems. The average rank for the odd plus odd
problems was 79; for the even plus even problems it was 57. Knight and
Behrens’ rankings of the same problems were 83 for the odd and 68 for
the even. Conceptually, a marked adjective may be thought of as noting
the absence of the characteristic of the unmarked adjective, but not the re-
verse. Thus, dead is a marked adjective because death is the absence of life
and one can say undead but not unalive.
meanings. One is mathematical and indicates that an odd number is not
1Address correspondence to Terence Hines, Psychology Department, Pace University, Pleas-
antville, NY 10570-2799 or e-mail (thines@pace.edu).
T. M. HINES
444
evenly divisible by two. The other denotes something strange or unusual.
The word “even” also has a mathematical meaning and other meanings
(i.e., smooth). Perhaps something about the multiple meanings of these
about odd and even stimuli.
which the words denoting the mathematical meaning of “odd” and “even”
do not carry other meanings. Polish is such a language. In Polish, the word
for the mathematical concept odd is “neiparzysty” and has no connotation
of strangeness or other meanings as does “odd.” The Polish word mean-
ing strange or unusual is “dziwny.” The Polish word for the mathemati-
cal concept even is “parzysty” (Stanislawski, 1964; Stanislawski & Szercha,
1969). If a slower response to odd digits is associated with the multiple
meanings of odd and even in English, this slowing should not be present
tested this hypothesis. Hines, Herman-Jeglinska, Bednarek, and Grabow-
speaking participants, but many of these did speak English. However, that
-
include an English-speaking group in the present study. The goal of the
-
-
ing group, further research would be required to specify what it is about
Participants
Participants were 24 University of Warsaw undergraduates, 19 wom-
en and 5 men, whose mean age was 20.5 yr. (SD
made over 20% errors and their data were not used. Participants were na-
tive Polish speakers who spoke no English. They were paid the equivalent
in Polish currency of U.S. $3. for their participation.
Apparatus and Procedure
Testing was conducted by a native Polish-speaking psychology ma-
jor who read the instructions and answered any questions from partici-
pants. Testing took place at the Psychology Department of the University
of Warsaw. Participants sat at a self-selected distance in front of a monitor
controlled by an IBM P2, Model 50 computer, which controlled stimulus
presentation and response recording. Stimuli were of pairs of digits se-
MEANINGS OF ODD AND EVEN 445
lected from 2 through 9, separated by four blank spaces. Digit pairs were
presented centered on the computer screen. No identical digit pairs were
presented. There were 188 trials of which 47 consisted of two even and 47
of two odd digits. On the remaining 94 trials, one digit was odd and one
-
perimental trials.
Participants were instructed to press the “A” key on the computer
was odd and one even. The crucial comparison in this study, between re-
sponses when the two stimuli were both odd or both even, was made by
the same hand. Participants were asked to respond as quickly and accu-
rately as possible.
When a correct response was given, feedback in the form of that trial’s
reaction appeared on the screen. If an error was made the word “ERROR”
appeared. If the reaction time was greater than 1,500 msec. “TOO SLOW”
appeared. This feedback was in English as no Polish character set was
-
moved from the screen and the feedback appeared, remaining visible for
pair appeared.
both digits were odd than on even/even trials. Reaction time was slower,
1,017 msec. (SDSD-
t18 p d -
ly more errors on odd/odd trials, 11.3% (5.4) versus 2.2% (1.4; t18
p d
was 973 msec. (SDSD
The analysis shows that odd digits were responded to more slowly
even in a language in which the words for the mathematical concepts odd
and even -
-
-
fect. Neiparzysty is marked in Polish. In fact, it literally translates as uneven
or “not even.” Just as it is improper to say unodd in English, one cannot say
nei neiparzysty in Polish.
-
plete. It does not address the issue of what aspects of the internal repre-
T. M. HINES
446
sentations of marked and unmarked concepts are important in the slow-
ing of responses to marked concepts. Perhaps the internal representations
memory than marked representations. This is an issue for future research.
REFERENCES
The number combinations: their relative diculty and the frequency of their
appearance in text-books. Bureau of Educational Research Bulletin No. 1. Madison,
WI: Univer. of Wisconsin Press.
language. In T. Moore (Ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language.
New York: Academic Press. Pp. 65-110.
Cognitive
development and the acquisition of language. New York: Academic Press. Pp. 27-63.
digits. Memory & Cognition, 18, 40-46.
& -
ences in the processing of odd and even digits. Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis,
56, 263-266.
& The learning of the 100 addition and 100 subtraction
combinations. New York: Longmans, Green.
The great English-Polish dictionary. Warsaw, Poland: Philip Wil-
son.
&Wielki slownik Polsko Angielski. Warsaw, Poland:
Philip Wilson.
Accepted August 19, 2010.
