The SNARC and MARC effects measured online: Large-scale assessment methods in flexible cognitive effects

Abstract

The Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect (i.e., faster reactions to small/large numbers on the left-/ right-hand side) is usually observed along with the linguistic Markedness of Response Codes (MARC) effect-that is, faster left-/ right-hand responses to odd/even numbers. The SNARC effect is one of the most thoroughly investigated phenomena in numerical cognition. However, almost all SNARC and MARC studies to date were conducted with sample sizes smaller than 100. Here we report on a study with 1,156 participants from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds performing a typical parity judgment task. We investigated whether (1) the SNARC and MARC effects can be observed in an online setup, (2) the properties of these effects observed online are similar to those observed in laboratory setups, (3) the effects are reliable, and (4) they are valid. We found robust SNARC and MARC effects. Their magnitude and reliabilities were comparable to values previously reported in in-lab studies. Furthermore, we reproduced commonly observed validity correlations of the SNARC and MARC effects. Namely, SNARC and MARC correlated with mean reaction times and intraindividual variability in reaction times. Additionally, we found interindividual differences in the SNARC and MARC effects (e.g., finger-counting routines for the SNARC and handedness for the MARC). Large-scale testing via web-based data acquisition not only produces SNARC and MARC effects and validity correlations similar to those from small, in-lab studies, but also reveals substantial insights with regard to interindividual differences that usually cannot be revealed in the offline laboratory, due to power considerations.

A Minority pulls the sample mean: on the individual prevalence of robust group-level cognitive phenomena – the instance of the SNARC effect

“…The SNARC effect has not only been replicated in many studies using parity judgment (see Cipora, Soltanlou, Reips, & Nuerk, 2019 for a large-scale online replication). It has also been reported in various other numerical tasks in both typical and atypical populations across various developmental stages (for reviews see Fischer Toomarian & Hubbard, 2018;Wood, Willmes, Nuerk, & Fischer, 2008 for a metaanalysis), generally highlighting robustness of the effect.…”

A Finger-Based Numerical Training Failed to Improve Arithmetic Skills in Kindergarten Children Beyond Effects of an Active Non-numerical Control Training

“…In several studies gender differences have been observed in some spatial representations of number (e.g., Bull et al, 2013;Reinert et al, 2017), in children's early arithmetic skill (Krinzinger et al, 2012;Hornburg et al, 2017;see also Brunner et al, 2011), and even in adults' arithmetic and numerical skills (Pletzer et al, 2013(Pletzer et al, , 2016. However, many recent studies have not found that females and males differ, for example, in a meta-analysis of math performance (Hyde, 2016), in several studies on children at various stages of their development (Morsanyi et al, 2018;Bakker et al, 2019;Hutchison et al, 2019); and in an adult online study testing the SNARC effect with over 1000 participants (see supplementary materials of Cipora et al, 2019). Because of these diverging results in the literature, which may differ depending on task, sample, culture and paradigm, we included gender as a predictor to examine whether it has any effect on embodied learning of basic numerical skills.…”

The Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes effect and math skills: why related?

“…Even though magnitude is response-irrelevant, it influences the reaction time pattern. The SNARC effect is very robust and has been replicated multiple times 21 , including in a large-scale online setup 22 . It was also observed with several modifications to the original bimanual parity setup 23 .…”

“…For children a better level of math skills was related to a stronger SNARC effect, whereas for adults better math skills were related to a weaker SNARC effect. 20 Fischer & Rottmann, 2005 42 Bonato et al, 2007 43 Bull et al, 2013 44 Cipora & Nuerk, 2013 32 Göbel et al, 2015 45 Cipora et al, 2019 22 Toomarian et al, 2019 46 Special groups -high math skills level He et al, 2019 47 Cipora et al, 2016 48 -Note that brain lesioned patients or individuals with genetic disorders are not considered. Studies with significant effects are in bold font.…”

“…Embodied processing refers to a general claim that bodily experiences such as specific movements or sensations are important part of mental, seemingly abstract processing 80 . The association of numerical magnitudes with directions in space can be modulated by these embodied influences, such as finger counting routines 22,81 . Better finger gnosia is related to better math skills 82,83 : children characterized by a greater ability to recognize and discriminate their fingers (based on tactile information) perform better in math.…”