title: Task instructions determine the visuospatial and verbal-spatial nature of number-space associations.
abstract: Evidence for number-space associations comes from the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect, consisting in faster reaction times to small/large digits with the left/right hand, respectively. Two different proposals are commonly discussed concerning the cognitive origin of the SNARC effect: the visuospatial account and the verbal-spatial account. Recent studies have provided evidence for the relative dominance of verbal-spatial over visuospatial coding mechanisms, when both mechanisms were directly contrasted in a magnitude comparison task. However, in these studies, participants were potentially biased towards verbal-spatial number processing by task instructions based on verbal-spatial labels. To overcome this confound and to investigate whether verbal-spatial coding mechanisms are predominantly activated irrespective of task instructions, we completed the previously used paradigm by adding a spatial instruction condition. In line with earlier findings, we could confirm the predominance of verbal-spatial number coding under verbal task instructions. However, in the spatial instruction condition, both verbal-spatial and visuospatial mechanisms were activated to an equal extent. Hence, these findings clearly indicate that the cognitive origin of number-space associations does not always predominantly rely on verbal-spatial processing mechanisms, but that the spatial code associated with numbers is context dependent.
authors.affiliation: a Institute of Cognitive Science and Assessment (COSA), Department of Education, Culture, Cognition and Society (ECCS), Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) , University of Luxembourg , Walferdange , Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Georges
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schiltz
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001244:Association; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive origin; Number–space associations; Spatial–numerical association of response codes effect; Verbal–spatial; Visuospatial