Attention allows the SNARC effect to operate on multiple number lines

Abstract

To investigate whether participants can activate only one spatially oriented number line at a time or multiple number lines simultaneously, they were asked to solve a unit magnitude comparison task (unit smaller/larger than 5) and a parity judgment task (even/odd) on two-digit numbers. In both these primary tasks, decades were irrelevant. After some of the primary task trials (randomly), participants were asked to additionally solve a secondary task based on the previously presented number. In Experiment 1, they had to decide whether the two-digit number presented for the primary task was larger or smaller than 50. Thus, for the secondary task decades were relevant. In contrast, in Experiment 2, the secondary task was a color judgment task, which means decades were irrelevant. In Experiment 1, decades’ and units’ magnitudes influenced the spatial association of numbers separately. In contrast, in Experiment 2, only the units were spatially associated with magnitude. It was concluded that multiple number lines (one for units and one for decades) can be activated if attention is focused on multiple, separate magnitude attributes.