Linkages between Number Concepts, Spatial Thinking, and Directionality of Writing: The SNARC Effect and the REVERSE SNARC Effect in English and Arabic Monoliterates, Biliterates, and Illiterate Arabic Speakers

Abstract

The current investigations coordinate math cognition and cultural approaches to numeric thinking to examine the linkages between numeric and spatial processes, and how these linkages are modified by the cultural artifact of writing. Previous research in the adult numeric cognition literature has shown that English monoliterates have a spatialised mental number line which is oriented from left-to-right with smaller magnitudes associated with the left side of space and larger magnitudes are associated with the right side of space. These associations between number and space have been termed the Spatial Numeric Association Response Code Effect (SNARC effect, Dehaene, 1992). The current study investigates the spatial orientation of the mental number line in the following groups: English monoliterates, Arabic monoliterates who use only the right-left writing system, Arabic-English biliterates, and illiterate Arabic speakers who only read numerals. Current results indicate, for the first time, a Reverse SNARC effect for Arabic monoliterates, such that the mental number line had a right-to-left directionality. Furthermore, a weakened Reverse SNARC was observed for Arabic-English biliterates, and no effect was observed among Illiterate Arabic speakers. These findings are especially notable since left-right biases are neurologically supported and are observed in pre-literate children regardless of which writing system is used by adults. The broader implications of how cultural artifacts affect basic numeric cognition will be discussed.

Are numbers special? An overview of chronometric, neuroimaging, developmental and comparative studies of magnitude representation

“…It refers to the observation that participants are faster to respond to small numbers with left-hand responses compared to right-hand responses, and faster to respond to large numbers with their right hand than with their left hand. According to Dehaene et al (1993), this interaction between numbers and space is directly related to the left-to-right orientation of the metaphorical mental number line (smaller numbers on the left, larger numbers on the right), and they suggested that this specific orientation is formed by cultural factors such as general writing direction (see also Zebian, 2005). All the numerical effects described before are a result of the representation that underlies them.…”

Representational Structures of Arithmetical Thinking: Part I

“…In countries where people read and write from right to left, SNARC effects reflect mental number lines directed horizontally from right to left. This means that responses to relatively smaller numerals are carried out faster on the right side, whereas responses to relatively bigger numerals are carried faster on the left side Zebian 2005). Some authors have investigated the relationship between the writing direction of digits and SNARC effects.…”

“…One is compatible with the direction of the mental number line -that is, the smaller digit is on the left and the larger digit is on the right-while the other is in the opposite direction. The participants were asked to indicate the larger or smaller numeral (Fischer 2003;Shaki and Petrusic 2005) or to evaluate whether the values of exhibited numerals were equal or different (Zebian 2005). Indicators of SNARC effects in such a research framework are: shorter reaction times to a double numeral stimulus arranged in accordance with the direction of the number line; and longer reaction times to a double numeral stimulus arranged in a way opposite to the direction of the axis.…”

“…The participant is asked to indicate whether a given digit is larger or smaller than the digit 5. In some experiments, the task requires the comparison of two numerals with respect to their values, which are presented simultaneously (larger vs smaller or the same vs different) (Zebian 2005). Another task used in SNARC experiments concerns the detection of a stimulus preceded by the presentation of a digit van Galen and Reitsma 2008).…”

Playing Reading, Using Hands: Which Activities are Linked to Number-Space Processing in Preschool Children?

“…This effect, called SNARC (Spatial-Numerical Associations of Response Codes, Dehaene, Bossini, & Giraux, 1993), is considered as the most prominent effect that shows that number processing can be oriented in space (for reviews see Gevers & Lammertyn, 2005;Wood, Willmes, Nuerk, & Fischer, 2008). A particular orientation of SNARC is mostly attributed to the direction of language orthography in a given culture: Whereas the left-to-right/small-to-large association is usually observed in left-to-right reading societies (Western countries), this association reverses or disappears in right-to-left reading cultures (Middle-Eastern countries, Dehaene, Bossini, & Giraux, 1993;Rashidi-Ranjbar, Goudarzvand, Jahangiri, Brugger, & Loetscher, 2014;Shaki & Fischer, 2008;Shaki, Fischer, & Petrusic, 2009;Zebian, 2005).…”