Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 333-348 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 30 Apr 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2019 |
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Keywords
- SNARC
- digits
- non-symbolic number
- automaticity
- Digits
- Nonsymbolic number
- Automaticity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language
Cite this
Automaticity of access to numerical magnitude and its spatial associations : the role of task and number representation. / Cleland, Alexandra A; Bull, Rebecca.
In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, Vol. 45, No. 2, 02.2019, p. 333-348.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Automaticity of access to numerical magnitude and its spatial associations
T2 - the role of task and number representation
AU - Cleland, Alexandra A
AU - Bull, Rebecca
PY - 2019/2
Y1 - 2019/2
N2 - Generally, people respond faster to small numbers with left-sided responses and large numbers with right-sided responses, a pattern known as the SNARC (spatial numerical association of response codes) effect. The SNARC effect is interpreted as evidence for amodal automatic access of magnitude and its spatial associations, as it occurs in settings where number is task-irrelevant, and for different number formats. We report five studies designed to establish the degree to which activation of magnitude and its spatial associations is truly automatic and amodal. Based on the notion of autonomous automaticity, we hypothesised that the mere presence of a number form (to which participants made a color decision) would be sufficient to elicit the SNARC effect. However, we found no evidence of a SNARC effect for simple color decisions to Arabic digits (Experiment 1). There was a SNARC effect for color decision to digits when participants recognised the stimulus as a digit before responding (Experiment 2), participants viewed the digit for sufficient time before color onset (Experiments 3 and 5), or there was temporal uncertainty regarding color onset (Experiment 3). There was no SNARC effect for color decision to arrays of circles (Experiment 4), regardless of viewing time or temporal uncertainty. Overall, our results suggest that, while access to magnitude and its spatial associations is not automatic in an “all-or-none” sense, it is certainly at the strong end of automaticity, and that this automatic activation is modality dependent. Our findings are most supportive of conceptual coding accounts of the SNARC effect.
AB - Generally, people respond faster to small numbers with left-sided responses and large numbers with right-sided responses, a pattern known as the SNARC (spatial numerical association of response codes) effect. The SNARC effect is interpreted as evidence for amodal automatic access of magnitude and its spatial associations, as it occurs in settings where number is task-irrelevant, and for different number formats. We report five studies designed to establish the degree to which activation of magnitude and its spatial associations is truly automatic and amodal. Based on the notion of autonomous automaticity, we hypothesised that the mere presence of a number form (to which participants made a color decision) would be sufficient to elicit the SNARC effect. However, we found no evidence of a SNARC effect for simple color decisions to Arabic digits (Experiment 1). There was a SNARC effect for color decision to digits when participants recognised the stimulus as a digit before responding (Experiment 2), participants viewed the digit for sufficient time before color onset (Experiments 3 and 5), or there was temporal uncertainty regarding color onset (Experiment 3). There was no SNARC effect for color decision to arrays of circles (Experiment 4), regardless of viewing time or temporal uncertainty. Overall, our results suggest that, while access to magnitude and its spatial associations is not automatic in an “all-or-none” sense, it is certainly at the strong end of automaticity, and that this automatic activation is modality dependent. Our findings are most supportive of conceptual coding accounts of the SNARC effect.
KW - SNARC
KW - digits
KW - non-symbolic number
KW - automaticity
KW - Digits
KW - Nonsymbolic number
KW - Automaticity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85046164644&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.mendeley.com/research/automaticity-access-numerical-magnitude-spatial-associations-role-task-number-representation
U2 - 10.1037/xlm0000590
DO - 10.1037/xlm0000590
M3 - Article
VL - 45
SP - 333
EP - 348
JO - Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition
JF - Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition
SN - 0278-7393
IS - 2
ER -