What Our Brains See vs What They Read
The way our brain interprets Roman numerals and Hindu-Arabic numbers reveals an interesting distinction in psychology—especially when viewed through the lens of communication theory.
According to the psychologist and communication theorist Paul Watzlawick, signs and symbols can be divided into two categories: analogical and digital.
· Analogical signs resemble what they represent. They are intuitive and visually descriptive.
· Digital signs are symbolic. They rely on learned codes and have no visual connection to what they signify.
In this sense, Roman numerals (like I, II, III) are analogical. When we see “II”, we can immediately see two units. The visual repetition reflects the quantity directly—our brain interprets the number almost as a drawing of its value.
On the other hand, Hindu-Arabic numbers (like 2, 3, 4) are digital. The symbol “2” doesn’t visually resemble two objects—it’s abstract. Understanding it depends on prior learning and decoding. The brain treats it more like language than image.
This distinction matters. Roman numerals engage perception in a way that mimics reality. Arabic numerals, by contrast, engage abstract reasoning. The first shows, the second tells.
In daily life, we may not notice the difference—but psychologically, the visual nature of Roman numerals connects us to meaning more directly, while the efficiency of Arabic numerals supports speed, calculation, and abstraction.
In short:
Roman numerals speak to the eye.
Arabic numbers speak to the mind.
⇨ More about numbers.
