Reading space into numbers - a cross-linguistic comparison of the SNARC effect

Samuel Shaki; Martin H. Fischer

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2008.04.001

Reading space into numbers - a cross-linguistic comparison of the SNARC effect

Samuel Shaki, Martin H. Fischer

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

180 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Small numbers are spontaneously associated with left space and larger numbers with right space (the SNARC effect), for example when classifying numbers by parity. This effect is often attributed to reading habits but a causal link has so far never been documented. We report that bilingual Russian-Hebrew readers show a SNARC effect after reading Cyrillic script (from left-to-right) that is significantly reduced after reading Hebrew script (from right-to-left). In contrast, they have similar SNARC effects after listening to texts in either language. These results support the view that spatially directional scanning habits contribute to the spatial association of numbers but also emphasize its flexibility. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	590-599
Number of pages	10
Journal	Cognition
Volume	108
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2008.04.001
Publication status	Published - Aug 2008

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abstract = "Small numbers are spontaneously associated with left space and larger numbers with right space (the SNARC effect), for example when classifying numbers by parity. This effect is often attributed to reading habits but a causal link has so far never been documented. We report that bilingual Russian-Hebrew readers show a SNARC effect after reading Cyrillic script (from left-to-right) that is significantly reduced after reading Hebrew script (from right-to-left). In contrast, they have similar SNARC effects after listening to texts in either language. These results support the view that spatially directional scanning habits contribute to the spatial association of numbers but also emphasize its flexibility. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.",

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AB - Small numbers are spontaneously associated with left space and larger numbers with right space (the SNARC effect), for example when classifying numbers by parity. This effect is often attributed to reading habits but a causal link has so far never been documented. We report that bilingual Russian-Hebrew readers show a SNARC effect after reading Cyrillic script (from left-to-right) that is significantly reduced after reading Hebrew script (from right-to-left). In contrast, they have similar SNARC effects after listening to texts in either language. These results support the view that spatially directional scanning habits contribute to the spatial association of numbers but also emphasize its flexibility. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Reading space into numbers - a cross-linguistic comparison of the SNARC effect

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