I’m reading the a 1991 paper by Barbara Tversky that deals with the directional representation of time. One sentence in the paper interview says
“There does not seem to be strong universal cognitive associations of quantity or quality to left or right”
Whenever I make a similar statement in the context of data visualization, I frequently get a self-assured response “of course there is – smaller numbers appear on the left!”. To answer this remark, Barbara Tversky added a small footnote that says
“Anyone in doubt should consult politicians on both the left and the right.”
So gentle, yet so powerful.
Boris Gorelik 