Abstract
The Spatial–Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC), namely the automatic association between smaller numbers and left space and between larger numbers and right space, is often attributed to a Mental Number Line (MNL), in which magnitudes would be placed left-to-right. Previous studies have suggested that the MNL could be extended to emotional processing. In this study, participants were asked to carry out a parity judgment task (categorizing one to five digits as even or odd) and an emotional judgment task, in which emotional smilies were presented with four emotional expressions (very sad, sad, happy, very happy). Half of the sample was asked to categorize the emotional valence (positive or negative valence), the other half was asked to categorize the emotional intensity (lower or higher intensity). The results of the parity judgment task confirmed the expected SNARC effect. In the emotional judgment task, the performance of both subgroups was better for happy than for sad expressions. Importantly, a better performance was found only in the valence task for lower intensity stimuli categorized with the left hand and for higher intensity stimuli categorized with the right hand, but only for happy smilies. The present results show that neither emotional valence nor emotional intensity alone are spatialized left-to-right, suggesting that magnitudes and emotions are processed independently from one another, and that the mental representation of emotions could be more complex than the bi-dimentional left-to-right spatialization found for numbers.
Highlights
The Spatial–Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) is a well-documented phenomenon, first described by Dehaene and colleagues [1], consisting of the automatic association between left space and smaller numbers, and between right space and larger numbers
The SNARC effect has been often ascribed to the Mental Number Line (MNL), namely a hypothetical horizontal line in which lower magnitudes are placed on the left pole and higher magnitudes are placed on the right pole [1,9]
Pitt and Casasanto showed that the area of the mouth significantly predicted the results described by Holmes and Lourenco and they explained this evidence in the context of the SNARC
Summary
The Spatial–Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) is a well-documented phenomenon, first described by Dehaene and colleagues [1], consisting of the automatic association between left space and smaller numbers, and between right space and larger numbers. Other findings found support for an opposite view, in which the reading–writing direction plays a crucial role in determining the direction of the MNL, with persons with a right-to-left reading–writing system showing an absent or reversed SNARC effect, possibly attributable to a right-to-left MNL [1,13] These findings shed light on the crucial role of culture, and language, on the mental representation of abstract concepts [14], and they are in line with a linguistic framework in which our thoughts are shaped by our language and vice versa [15]. The focus will be restricted to Western culture with a left-to-right reading–writing system, because in this culture the left-to-right MNL seems to be unquestionable and, as has been previously specified, it is widely confirmed for different features
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