title: Separate mechanisms for magnitude and order processing in the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect: The strange case of musical note values.
abstract: The spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect is considered an evidence of the association between numbers and space, with faster left key-press responses to small numbers and faster right key-press responses to large numbers. We examined whether visually presented note values produce a SNARC-like effect. Differently from numbers, note values are represented as a decreasing left-to-right progression, allowing us to disambiguate the contribution of order and magnitude in determining the direction of the effect. Musicians with formal education performed a note value comparison in Experiment 1 (direct task), a line orientation judgment in Experiment 2 (indirect task), and a detection task in Experiment 3 (indirect task). When note values were task relevant (direct task), participants responded faster to large note values with the left key-press, and vice versa. Conversely, when note values were task irrelevant (indirect tasks), the direction of this association was reversed. This evidence suggests the existence of separate mechanisms underlying the SNARC effect. Namely, an Order-Related Mechanism (ORM) and a Magnitude-Related Mechanism (MRM) that are revealed by different task demands. Indeed, according to a new model we proposed, ordinal and magnitude related information appears to be preferentially involved in direct and indirect tasks, respectively. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste.
authors.forename: Valter
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Prpic
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste.
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fumarola
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Tommaso
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste.
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Luccio
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murgia
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste.
authors.forename: Tiziano
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Agostini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D009146:Music; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult