It takes just one word to quash a SNARC.

Our directional reading habit seems to contribute to the widely reported association of small numbers with left space and larger numbers with right space (the spatial-numerical association of response codes, SNARC, effect). But how can this association be so flexible when reading habits are not? To address this question, we asked bilingual Russian-Hebrew readers to classify numbers by parity and alternated the number format from trial to trial between written words and Arabic digits. The number words were randomly printed in either Cyrillic or Hebrew script, thus inducing left-to-right or right-to-left reading, respectively. Classification performance indicated that the digits were spatially mapped when they followed a Russian word but not when they followed a Hebrew word. An auditory control experiment revealed left-to-right SNARC effects with different strengths in both languages. These results suggest that the SNARC effect reflects recent spatial experiences, cross-modal associations, and long-standing directional habits but not an attribute of the number concepts themselves.

[1]  S. Shaki,et al.  How to cook a SNARC: Number placement in text rapidly changes spatial–numerical associations , 2010, Brain and Cognition.

[2]  Samuel Shaki,et al.  Reading habits for both words and numbers contribute to the SNARC effect , 2009, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[3]  Giuseppe Vallar,et al.  Visualizing numbers in the mind's eye: The role of visuo-spatial processes in numerical abilities , 2008, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[4]  Guilherme Wood,et al.  On the Cognitive Link between Space and Number: A Meta-Analysis of the SNARC Effect , 2008 .

[5]  Martin H. Fischer,et al.  Reading space into numbers – a cross-linguistic comparison of the SNARC effect , 2008, Cognition.

[6]  Barriers to seeking help for mental health problems in rural Australia , 2008 .

[7]  H. Bekkering,et al.  Short Article: Coding Strategies in Number Space: Memory Requirements Influence Spatial–Numerical Associations , 2008, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[8]  Martin H. Fischer,et al.  Finger counting habits modulate spatial-numerical associations , 2008, Cortex.

[9]  Denise H. Wu,et al.  Flexible spatial mapping of different notations of numbers in Chinese readers , 2008, Cognition.

[10]  M. Brysbaert,et al.  The SNARC Effect in the Processing of Second-Language Number Words: Further Evidence for Strong Lexico-Semantic Connections , 2008, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[11]  Guilherme Wood,et al.  Crossed Hands and the Snarc Effect: Afailure to Replicate Dehaene, Bossini and Giraux (1993) , 2006, Cortex.

[12]  M. H. Fischer,et al.  The Future for Snarc Could Be Stark… , 2006, Cortex.

[13]  Wim Fias,et al.  Spatial representation of numbers. , 2004 .

[14]  Jamie I. D. Campbell.  Handbook of mathematical cognition , 2004 .

[15]  Takeshi Hatta,et al.  Spatial structure of quantitative representation of numbers: Evidence from the SNARC effect , 2004, Memory & cognition.

[16]  Wolf Schwarz,et al.  Moving the eyes along the mental number line: Comparing SNARC effects with saccadic and manual responses , 2004, Perception & psychophysics.

[17]  Klaus Willmes,et al.  Notational Modulation of the SNARC and the MARC (Linguistic Markedness of Response Codes) Effect , 2004, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[18]  Wim Fias,et al.  The mental representation of ordinal sequences is spatially organized , 2003, Cognition.

[19]  D. Berch,et al.  Extracting parity and magnitude from Arabic numerals: developmental changes in number processing and mental representation. , 1999, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[20]  Peter Brugger,et al.  Stimulus-response compatibility in representational space , 1998, Neuropsychologia.

[21]  S. Dehaene,et al.  The mental representation of parity and number magnitude. , 1993 .

[22]  Wim Fias,et al.  Numbers and space: a computational model of the SNARC effect. , 2006, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[23]  K. Willmes,et al.  The universal SNARC effect: the association between number magnitude and space is amodal. , 2005, Experimental psychology.

[24]  Samar Zebian,et al.  Linkages between Number Concepts, Spatial Thinking, and Directionality of Writing: The SNARC Effect and the REVERSE SNARC Effect in English and Arabic Monoliterates, Biliterates, and Illiterate Arabic Speakers , 2005 .