数量和顺序线索对SNARC效应的影响及其作用机制

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2025.0749

摘要/Abstract

摘要：

空间−数字反应编码联合(SNARC)效应普遍存在于各种形式的数字和数量刺激加工之中, 但是刺激中包含的数量和顺序线索影响SNARC效应的机制尚不清楚。本研究通过设计字母数量启动任务, 系统考察了数量和顺序线索对SNARC效应的影响及其作用机制。研究通过连续呈现不同数量的字母启动字母的数量信息后, 分别要求被试执行字母顺序分类任务(实验1), 字母数量奇偶分类任务(实验2)和字母颜色分类任务(实验3)。结果发现：(1)在字母顺序分类任务中同时出现数量SNARC效应和顺序SNARC效应, 但二者交互作用不显著。(2)在字母数量奇偶分类任务中, 数量SNARC效应和顺序SNARC交互效应显著, 具体表现为在字母顺序−空间一致条件下才出现数量SNARC效应, 在数量−空间一致条件下才出现顺序SNARC效应。(3)在字母颜色分类任务中, 只出现顺序SNARC效应, 未出现数量SNARC效应, 且两者交互作用不显著。结果表明：(1) SNARC效应既可以由刺激的数量线索引起, 也可以由刺激的顺序线索引起。(2)数量和顺序线索对SNARC效应的影响机制不同, 且具有任务情景依赖性。结果支持并修正了数量顺序双重作用理论。

关键词: SNARC效应, 启动范式, 数量-空间一致性, 顺序-空间一致性, 认知任务

Abstract:

Dehaene et al. (1993) found that participants typically associated small numbers with pressing the left key and large numbers with pressing the right key when they classified the given numbers by pressing the left or right key as correctly and quickly as possible. They defined this phenomenon as the spatial-numerical association of the response code (SNARC) effect. After Dehaene and his collaborators captured the SNARC effect in Arabic numerals processing, subsequent studies further confirmed the existence of the SNARC effect in other types of symbolic numbers and non-symbolic numbers and the stimuli with magnitude information. On the cause of the SNARC effect, various theories provide explanations. For example, the ATOM (a theory of magnitude) model suggests that in the human brain, there is a generalized magnitude system where various symbolic and non-symbolic numbers and stimuli with magnitude information are processed to result in the SNARC effect. Ordinality theory holds that the processing of ordinality information from stimuli including numbers leads to the SNARC effect. Magnitude-ordinality double action theory states that both the magnitude and ordinality of stimuli contribute to the SNARC effect. These theories have deepened our understanding of the mechanism of the SNARC effect, but contradictions exist among these theories on the following basic theoretical questions. First, is it the magnitude of the numbers or the ordinal cues of the numbers that causes the SNARC effect in the processing of numbers? Second, how do the magnitude and ordinal cues of the numbers influence the SNARC effect? A critical reason why the above two theoretical questions could not be solved is that the magnitude and ordinal cues of the experimental stimuli are not well separated in the previous studies.
Therefore, this study used a new stimulus in which the magnitude and ordinal cues were both contained and could be well separated, aiming to systematically investigate the magnitude and ordinal cues of the numbers that led to the SNARC effect and how the magnitude and ordinal cues of the numbers influenced the SNARC effect in different tasks.
In the first experiment, we presented participants with a specific letter (A, B, D, or E) successively and intensively, and asked them to remember the letter and the number of times occurring in the activating stage. Then, we presented the activated letter again to participants and asked them to classify the activated letter in the order of the alphabet by pressing the left key with the left hand or the right key with the right hand. The results of this experiment showed that the SNARC effect was the result of both magnitude and ordinal cues. In addition, the effects of SNARC on the processing of both magnitude and ordinal cues did not interact with each other. In the second experiment, participants were asked to classify the activated letters according to their magnitude. The results indicated that the SNARC effect in the processing of magnitude and the SNARC effect in the processing of ordinal cues interacted with each other. Besides, the SNARC effect occurred only when the magnitude or ordinal direction was consistent with the response side. In the third experiment, we activated the magnitude of letters by successively presenting a specific letter several times, followed by presenting the activated letter in blue or green to the participants. Unlike the first two experiments, in the third experiment, we asked participants to classify the letters based on their color by pressing the left or right key. The results indicated that the SNARC effect only occurred in the processing of ordinal cues, and was not affected by numerical-spatial consistency.
This study highlighted that (1) both magnitude and ordinality information can induce the SNARC effect; (2) the influence mechanism of magnitude information on the SNARC effect was different from that of ordinality information, and both of them depended on the task completed by participants. With the change of tasks, the mechanisms of magnitude and ordinal cues in the SNARC effect also changed, indicating their task dependence. These results support and improve the magnitude ordinality dual action theory.

Key words: SNARC effect, priming paradigm, numerical-spatial consistency, ordinal-spatial consistency, cognitive task

中图分类号:

B842

王强强, 吴彦文, 石文典, 游旭群. (2025). 数量和顺序线索对SNARC效应的影响及其作用机制. 心理学报, 57(5), 749-761.

WANG Qiangqiang, WU Yanwen, SHI Wendian, YOU Xuqun. (2025). How magnitude and ordinal cues of stimuli influence the SNARC effect. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 57(5), 749-761.

图/表 8

图1 实验流程图。该图以连续呈现4个字母B为例描绘了单个试次的流程图。除了目标刺激(注视点“+”下一屏的字母B)呈现3000 ms, 最后一屏呈现1500 ms以外, 其余所有屏幕均呈现500 ms。

图2 字母顺序分类中数量和顺序SNARC效应注：误差线代表标准误, *表示p < 0.05, **表示p < 0.01, ***表示p < 0.001。本研究后续所有图片中误差线和星号代表的意义与此图相同。

图3 字母顺序分类中数量−空间和顺序−空间一致和不一致试次上的错误率及标准误

图4 字母数量奇偶分类任务中顺序SNARC一致和不一致条件下数量SNARC效应

图5 字母数量奇偶分类任务中数量SNARC一致和不一致条件下顺序SNARC效应

图6 字母数量分类中数量−空间和顺序−空间一致和不一致试次上的错误率及标准误

图7 字母颜色分类中数量和顺序SNARC效应

图8 字母颜色分类中数量−空间和顺序−空间一致和不一致试次上的错误率及标准误

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