Abstract: In the present study, two different experimental paradigms (with the endogenous cue and with the exogenous cue) were used to investigate the distance effect and the notation effect of numbers processing in attended and unattended condition. The stimuli were small numbers (1-4) and large numbers (6-9) in Chinese and Arabic. Subjects’ task was to decide whether the presented number was larger or smaller than 5. The results showed that 1) the distance effect of both of small numbers and large numbers was not affected by the endogenous attention, but the distance effect of large numbers weakened or disappeared in unattended condition with exogenous cue; 2) the notation effect of small numbers appeared in unattended condition with both endogenous cue and exogenous cue, the subjects’ performance on Arabic numbers was not as good as than that on Chinese numbers. Moreover, the influence of exogenous cue was larger than that of endogenous cue.

Key words: attention, endogenous attention, exogenous attention, number processing, number distance effect, number notation effect