数量空间表征的特点:跨视听通道下的SNARC效应

从跨通道的角度入手,采用大小比较任务,对视听单通道及跨通道下数量空间表征的特点及表征过程中的相互影响进行探讨。结果发现,视觉通道和听觉通道均存在SNARC效应;在跨通道任务下,无论启动通道是视觉还是听觉通道,都表现出,当启动通道的数量大小信息与主通道的数量大小一致或无关时,主通道的SNARC效应没有显著变化;但当启动通道的数量大小信息与主通道不一致时,主通道的SNARC效应受到显著影响,表现为降低或消失。这进一步证明了SNARC效应受情境影响的特点,并发现在进行跨通道数量空间表征时,听觉通道的数量信息对视觉通道下的数量空间表征的影响大于视觉通道的数量信息对听觉通道下的数量空间表征的影响。     

Developing access to number magnitude: a study of the SNARC effect in 7- to 9-year-olds

The SNARC (spatial-numerical association of response codes) effect refers to the finding that small numbers facilitate left responses, whereas larger numbers facilitate right responses. The development of this spatial association was studied in 7-, 8-, and 9-year-olds, as well as in adults, using a task where number magnitude was essential to perform the task and another task where number magnitude was irrelevant. When number magnitude was essential, a SNARC effect was found in all age groups. But when number magnitude was irrelevant, a SNARC effect was found only in 9-year-olds and adults. These results are taken to suggest that (a) 7-year-olds represent number magnitudes in a way similar to that of adults and that (b) when perceiving Arabic numerals, children have developed automatic access to magnitude information by around 9 years of age.     

Time in the mind: using space to think about time

How do we construct abstract ideas like justice, mathematics, or time-travel? In this paper we investigate whether mental representations that result from physical experience underlie people's more abstract mental representations, using the domains of space and time as a testbed. People often talk about time using spatial language (e.g., a long vacation, a short concert). Do people also think about time using spatial representations, even when they are not using language? Results of six psychophysical experiments revealed that people are unable to ignore irrelevant spatial information when making judgments about duration, but not the converse. This pattern, which is predicted by the asymmetry between space and time in linguistic metaphors, was demonstrated here in tasks that do not involve any linguistic stimuli or responses. These findings provide evidence that the metaphorical relationship between space and time observed in language also exists in our more basic representations of distance and duration. Results suggest that our mental representations of things we can never see or touch may be built, in part, out of representations of physical experiences in perception and motor action.     

The SNARC effect: an instance of the Simon effect?

Our aim was to investigate the relations between the Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect and the Simon effect. In Experiment 1 participants were required to make a parity judgment to numbers from 1 to 9 (without 5), by pressing a left or a right key. The numbers were presented to either the left or right side of fixation. Results showed the Simon effect (left-side stimuli were responded to faster with the left hand than with the right hand whereas right-side stimuli were responded to faster with the right hand), and the SNARC effect (smaller numbers were responded to faster with the left hand than with the right hand, whereas larger numbers were responded to faster with the right hand). No interaction was found between the Simon and SNARC effects, suggesting that they combine additively. In Experiment 2 the temporal distance between formation of the task-relevant non-spatial stimulus code and the task-irrelevant stimulus spatial code was increased. As in Experiment 1, results showed the presence of the Simon and SNARC effects but no interaction between them. Moreover, we found a regular Simon effect for faster RTs, and a reversed Simon effect for longer RTs. In contrast, the SNARC effect did not vary as a function of RT. Taken together, the results of the two experiments show that the SNARC effect does not simply constitute a variant of the Simon effect. This is considered to be evidence that number representation and space representation rest on different neural (likely parietal) circuits.     

A working memory account for spatial-numerical associations

Several psychophysical and neuropsychological investigations have suggested that the mental representation of numbers takes the form of a number line along which magnitude is positioned in ascending order according to our reading habits. A longstanding debate is whether this spatial frame is triggered automatically as intrinsic part of the number semantics or whether it constitutes a short-term representation constructed during task execution. Although several observations clearly favor the working memory account, its causal involvement has not yet been demonstrated. In two experiments we show that information stored in working memory get spatially coded in function of its ordinal position in the sequence and that the spatial–numerical associations typically observed in number categorization tasks draw upon this mechanism.     

Functional-anatomical organization of predicate metaphor processing

The bulk of the research on the neural organization of metaphor comprehension has focused on nominal metaphors and the metaphoric relationships between word pairs. By contrast, little work has been conducted on predicate metaphors using verbs of motion such as “The man fell under her spell.” We examined predicate metaphors as compared to literal sentences of motion such as “The child fell under the slide” in an event-related, functional MRI study. Our results demonstrated greater activation in the left inferior frontal cortex and left lateral temporal lobe for predicate metaphors as compared to literal sentences, while no differences were seen in homologous areas of the right hemisphere. We suggest that the results support a neural organization principle for motion processing in which greater abstraction proceeds along a posterior-to-anterior axis within the lateral portion of the left temporal cortex.     

Attentional SNARC: there's something special about numbers (let us count the ways)

We report a study that examines whether the presentation of irrelevant, ordinal information at central fixation interacts with the allocation of attention beyond fixation. Previous research has demonstrated that number perception influences the allocation of spatial attention, such that the presentation of a spatially nonpredictive number at fixation results in attention being allocated to the left when the central number is low (e.g., 1), and attention being allocated to the right when the central number is high (e.g., 9). Here, we examine whether this attentional SNARC effect (spatial numerical association of response codes) generalizes to other ordinal sequences: letters, days, and months. Though we replicate the attentional SNARC we find that this effect is number-specific, unless participants are required to process the cue in an order-relevant fashion. This discovery of number-specificity has important implications both for the functional separation between SNARC and attention-SNARC effects, as well as lending support to recent theories regarding the specificity of a shared neural architecture between numbers and visuospatial attention.     

A long way from home: Thinking about international students

speak out. The relation of such therapeutic work to the special educational needs requirements in inclusive mainstream schools is also discussed.     

Is more always up? Evidence for a preference of hand-based associations over vertical number mappings

It has been argued that the association of numbers and vertical space plays a fundamental role for the understanding of numerical concepts. However, convincing evidence for an association of numbers and vertical bimanual responses is still lacking. The present study tests the vertical Spatio-Numerical-Association-of-Response-Codes (SNARC) effect in a number classification task by comparing anatomical hand-based and spatial associations. A mixed effects model of linear spatial-numerical associations revealed no evidence for a vertical but clear support for an anatomical SNARC effect. Only if the task requirements prevented participants from using a number-hand association due to frequently alternating hand-to-button assignments, numbers were associated with the vertical dimension. Taken together, the present findings question the importance of vertical associations for the conceptual understanding of numerical magnitude as hypothesised by some embodied approaches to number cognition and suggest a preference for ego- over geocentric reference frames for the mapping of numbers onto space.     

贵州少数民族儿童青少年SNARC效应的发展

采用奇偶判断任务,考察二年级至大学阶段贵州民族儿童青少年SNARC效应的发展状况。结果显示：三年级开始出现SNARC效应（包括正确率SNARC效应）;各阶段SNARC效应无显著差异;高、低年级正确率存在显著差异,六年级以后各阶段正确率无显著差异。结论：民族儿童三年级开始形成数字的空间表征。SNARC效应的大小不因年龄而发生变化;被试对奇偶知识的掌握存在发展过程,三年级可能基本理解奇偶信息,六年级后熟练掌握奇偶信息。     

Do English and Mandarin speakers think about time differently?

Time is a fundamental domain of experience. In this paper we ask whether aspects of language and culture affect how people think about this domain. Specifically, we consider whether English and Mandarin speakers think about time differently. We review all of the available evidence both for and against this hypothesis, and report new data that further support and refine it. The results demonstrate that English and Mandarin speakers do think about time differently. As predicted by patterns in language, Mandarin speakers are more likely than English speakers to think about time vertically (with earlier time-points above and later time-points below).     

数字的空间特性

当要求被试对数字进行奇偶判断时,左手对小数的反应较快,而右手对大数的反应较快,该现象被称为空间数字反应编码联合效应（SNARC效应）。大量研究证实了SNARC效应的存在,该效应表明人类对数字的加工受空间表征和空间注意的影响。该文系统地回顾了SNARC效应存在及其发生阶段的证据,对比了Simon效应与SNARC效应,最后尝试着从空间注意的角度挖掘数字和空间的本质联     

基于增强现实和ERPs架构的SNARC效应展望

SNARC效应是人类空间认知的重要组成部分。限于技术手段,现有SNARC研究的理论和技术多以小尺度空间环境为基础,致使其生态效度较低。基于增强现实技术和认知神经科学范式,通过增强现实技术生成的交互情境,从核心加工系统(静态空间SNARC、动态空间SNARC、静态-动态联合SNARC)和加工特性两个方面,研究建立起基于大尺度空间环境的SNARC加工模型。为人类空间认知研究提供了更加完备的知识领域。     

一位阿拉伯数字的空间表征

数字数量的空间表征问题是认知心理学领域的研究热点之一。本研究采用Fischer等人的实验范式,探讨了较浅程度加工时一位阿拉伯数字在水平和垂直方向上的空间表征,结果发现:(1)对数字进行较浅程度的加工(仅仅注视数字)时,在水平方向上出现了SNARC效应,即激活了数字在水平方向上的空间表征,数字数量按照小、中、大的顺序自左而右地映射到心理数字线上;(2)对数字进行较浅程度加工时,在垂直方向上没有出现SNARC效应,即未激活数字在垂直方向上的空间表征。     

投稿—基于Stroop效应和SNARC效应的大数量自动加工研究

在数字自动加工研究中,已有研究的实验对象一般局限在小数量数字上,大数量数字加工中是否也存在自动激活现象尚未获得实验证据。本研究以大数量为研究对象,以Stroop效应和SNARC效应为自动加工的指标,实验一发现,无论是数字语义比较还是数字个数比较,都出现了典型的数字Stroop效应;实验二的结果表明,在大数量个数的比较任务中存在SNARC效应和顺序效应。由实验结果初步推断,在大数量加工中也存在无关维度数量信息的自动激活。     

Comparing implicit and synaesthetic number–space associations: Visuospatial and verbal spatial–numerical associations of response codes

In the theory of the mental number line, number, and space are implicitly associated, giving rise to the spatial–numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect, in which smaller numbers are more readily associated with the left side of space and larger numbers with the right, during a parity judgement task. Others, however, have argued that the SNARC effect is flexible and better explained by verbal rather than spatial associations. A few single-case studies on the SNARC effect have tested number–space synaesthetes, who make explicit associations between number and space. Here, we present data from experiments conducted on groups of synaesthetes and nonsynaesthetes on the classic SNARC parity judgement task with lateralized response keys and a modified version in which they responded to labels appearing on screen. Synaesthetes' behaviour was expected to differ from nonsynaesthetes' behaviour due to the explicit, fixed nature of their number–space associations, but both experiments show the two groups behaving in the same way, indicating that parity judgement tasks may not be tapping the same representation of number that gives rise to synaesthetic number–space experiences.     

不同注意提示线索条件下汉字数字加工的SNARC效应

采用Ponser的实验范式.以判断"壹"到"玖"的汉字数字奇偶为任务,探讨不同提示线索时在注意条件与非注意条件下的空间数字反应编码联合效应(SNARC效应).实验结果发现: (1)当有效提示线索为80%时,注意条件下汉字数字出现了SNARC效应,而非注意条件下对汉字数字的加工没有出现SNARC效应; (2)当有效提示线索为50%时,在注意和非注意条件下汉字数字都出现了明显的SNARC效应.结果表明注意水平对SNARC效应产生了影响.     

物理大小和面积的无意识空间表征

意识水平的研究发现,数字量的比较机制与物理刺激比较的机制是一样的;在无意识水平上的研究发现,数字加工存在无意识语义启动现象。我们假设,在数字的物理特性的比较任务中可能存在无意识启动效应和类SNARC效应。实验一的数字比较任务和数字的物理大小比较任务发现,在33毫秒的无意识启动条件下,数字语义比较任务和数字物理大小比较任务中都发现了类SNARC效应、启动效应以及Stroop效应。实验二的数字覆盖面积比较任务中发现,在33毫秒的启动水平,数字比较与数字覆盖面积的比较任务中均存在SNARC效应、Stroop效应和启动效应。