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The SNARC Effect in Chinese Numerals: Do Visual Properties of Characters and Hand Signs Influence Number Processing?

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  • Karl K Kopiske
  • Christian Löwenkamp
  • Owino Eloka
  • Florian Schiller
  • Chung-Shan Kao
  • Chaohua Wu
  • Xiaorong Gao
  • Volker H Franz

Abstract

The SNARC effect refers to an association of numbers and spatial properties of responses that is commonly thought to be amodal and independent of stimulus notation. We tested for a horizontal SNARC effect using Arabic digits, simple-form Chinese characters and Chinese hand signs in participants from Mainland China. We found a horizontal SNARC effect in all notations. This is the first time that a horizontal SNARC effect has been demonstrated in Chinese characters and Chinese hand signs. We tested for the SNARC effect in two experiments (parity judgement and magnitude judgement). The parity judgement task yielded clear, consistent SNARC effects in all notations, whereas results were more mixed in magnitude judgement. Both Chinese characters and Chinese hand signs are represented non-symbolically for low numbers and symbolically for higher numbers, allowing us to contrast within the same notation the effects of heavily learned non-symbolic vs. symbolic representation on the processing of numbers. In addition to finding a horizontal SNARC effect, we also found a robust numerical distance effect in all notations. This is particularly interesting as it persisted when participants reported using purely visual features to solve the task, thereby suggesting that numbers were processed semantically even when the task could be solved without the semantic information.

Suggested Citation

  • Karl K Kopiske & Christian Löwenkamp & Owino Eloka & Florian Schiller & Chung-Shan Kao & Chaohua Wu & Xiaorong Gao & Volker H Franz, 2016. "The SNARC Effect in Chinese Numerals: Do Visual Properties of Characters and Hand Signs Influence Number Processing?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0163897
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163897
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    Cited by:

    1. Shuyuan Yu & Baichen Li & Meng Zhang & Tianwei Gong & Xiaomei Li & Zhaojun Li & Xuefei Gao & Shudong Zhang & Ting Jiang & Chuansheng Chen, 2020. "Automaticity in processing spatial-numerical associations: Evidence from a perceptual orientation judgment task of Arabic digits in frames," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(2), pages 1-17, February.

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