Reading habits for both words and numbers contribute to the SNARC effect.
This study compared the spatial representation of numbers in three groups of adults: Canadians, who read both English words and Arabic numbers from left to right; Palestinians, who read Arabic words and Arabic-Indic numbers from right to left; and Israelis, who read Hebrew words from right to left but Arabic numbers from left to right. Canadians associated small numbers with left and large numbers with right space (the SNARC effect), Palestinians showed the reverse association, and Israelis had no reliable spatial association for numbers. These results suggest that reading habits for both words and numbers contribute to the spatial representation of numbers.
Shaki
Samuel
S
Ariel University Center of Samaria, Ariel, Israel. samuel_shaki@hotmail.com
Fischer
Martin H
MH
Petrusic
William M
WM
D000293:Adolescent; D018912:Arabs; D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006184:Habits; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D009864:Ontario; D009949:Orientation; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D012193:Reversal Learning; D012660:Semantics; D055815:Young Adult