The SNARC Effect in Chinese Numerals: Do Visual Properties of Characters and Hand Signs Influence Number Processing?
The SNARC effect refers to an association of numbers and spatial properties of responses that is commonly thought to be amodal and independent of stimulus notation. We tested for a horizontal SNARC effect using Arabic digits, simple-form Chinese characters and Chinese hand signs in participants from Mainland China. We found a horizontal SNARC effect in all notations. This is the first time that a horizontal SNARC effect has been demonstrated in Chinese characters and Chinese hand signs. We tested for the SNARC effect in two experiments (parity judgement and magnitude judgement). The parity judgement task yielded clear, consistent SNARC effects in all notations, whereas results were more mixed in magnitude judgement. Both Chinese characters and Chinese hand signs are represented non-symbolically for low numbers and symbolically for higher numbers, allowing us to contrast within the same notation the effects of heavily learned non-symbolic vs. symbolic representation on the processing of numbers. In addition to finding a horizontal SNARC effect, we also found a robust numerical distance effect in all notations. This is particularly interesting as it persisted when participants reported using purely visual features to solve the task, thereby suggesting that numbers were processed semantically even when the task could be solved without the semantic information.
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems@UniTn, Corso Bettini, 31, 38068 Rovereto, TN, Italy.|University of Hamburg, Institute of Psychology, Von-Melle-Park 5, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
Karl K
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7747-5774
KK
Kopiske
University of Hamburg, Institute of Psychology, Von-Melle-Park 5, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
Christian
C
Löwenkamp
University of Hamburg, Institute of Psychology, Von-Melle-Park 5, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
Owino
O
Eloka
Justus Liebig University Giessen, Department of General Psychology, Otto-Behaghel-Straße 10, 35394 Giessen, Germany.
Florian
F
Schiller
University of Hamburg, Institute of Psychology, Von-Melle-Park 5, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
Chung-Shan
CS
Kao
Tsinghua University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Beijing 100084, PR China.
Chaohua
C
Wu
Tsinghua University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Beijing 100084, PR China.
Xiaorong
X
Gao
University of Hamburg, Institute of Psychology, Von-Melle-Park 5, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.|University of Tübingen, Institute of Computer Science, Department of Experimental Cognitive Science, Sand 13, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Volker H
VH
Franz
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