Finding the SNARC Instead of Hunting It: A 20∗20 Monte Carlo Investigation

Cipora, Krzysztof; Wood, Guilherme

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01194

Cited by 24 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…When more trials are included for averaging, the errors associated with the single measurements tend to cancel each other out more accurately 16 . In the case of the SNARC effect, increasing the number of repetitions of each number per block up to 20 or 30 seems a reasonable solution, because the duration of the task does not change dramatically and still can be well below 20 minutes (for simulations, see Cipora & Wood, 2017). In the presented analyses, reliability is at least at an acceptable level (≥ .66) in all studies using 20 and more repetitions 17 .…”

Section: Improving Snarc Effect Reliability and Precisionmentioning

confidence: 77%

A Minority pulls the sample mean: on the individual prevalence of robust group-level cognitive phenomena – the instance of the SNARC effect

Cipora

Dijck

Georges

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The aim of cognitive psychology is to obtain insights into human cognition in general. For this purpose, group-studies are typically conducted on representative samples so that the results can be generalized to the population. Using this approach, individual differences in such group-level cognitive phenomena are typically neglected and not much is known about their prevalence at the individual level. Such information is nevertheless important for claims about the universality of phenomena, as in theory, significant effects at the group-level can in principle be driven by a minority of participants. Here we used a uniform analysis of 18 existing data sets revealing a well-replicated phenomenon in numerical cognition: the SNARC (Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes) effect, in order to investigate the prevalence of the effect at the individual level. Three methods of analyzing the presence of the effect at the individual level were utilized: one psychometric and two bootstrapping methods. The results show that the group-level SNARC effect is driven by a minority of individuals (≤ 45%) who reveal the effect. This finding demonstrate an important theoretical issue: whether group-level effects really reflect general principles of cognition. We discuss advantages and drawbacks of the present methods and their usefulness for investigating the prevalence of other cognitive phenomena. We posit that testing the presence of robust group-level cognitive effects at the individual level as well as ensuring their reliable measurement is an important step towards integrating two traditionally separate approaches of scientific psychology proposed back in 50’ by Cronbach: experimental and correlational.

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Section: Improving Snarc Effect Reliability and Precisionmentioning

confidence: 77%

A Minority pulls the sample mean: on the individual prevalence of robust group-level cognitive phenomena – the instance of the SNARC effect

Cipora

Dijck

Georges

et al. 2019

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Unlike other reports, we did not observe significantly negative SNARC effects for numbers (and for weekdays) with the 1–5 range without any stimulation (e.g., Dehaene et al, 1993 ; Fias et al, 1996 ). It should be acknowledged as well that internal consistency and reliability of the SNARC effect can be medium to low (Cipora and Wood, 2017 , for simulations; Cipora and Nuerk, 2013 ; Viarouge et al, 2014 ; Georges et al, 2016 ; for estimates of reliability from 0.27 to 0.70), which may also influence differences between two tDCS conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Switching between Multiple Codes of SNARC-Like Associations: Two Conceptual Replication Attempts with Anodal tDCS in Sham-Controlled Cross-Over Design

2017

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In societies with left-to-right reading direction, left-side vs. right-side behavioral decisions are faster for relatively small vs. large number magnitudes, and vice versa, a phenomenon termed Spatial-Numerical Associations of Response Codes (SNARC) effect. But also for non-numerical sequential items, SNARC-like effects were observed, suggesting a common neurocognitive mechanism based on the ordinal structures of both numbers and sequences. Modulation of prefrontal networks that are involved in providing spatial associations during cognitive behavior can contribute to elaborate their neuropsychological theoretical foundations. With transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) directed to the left prefrontal cortex, we recently showed that (i) cathodal tDCS can block the emergence of spatial-numerical associations and that (ii) anodal tDCS can reverse spatial associations of sequential order, most likely based on markedness correspondence. Two conceptual replication attempts of the latter reversal of space-order associations are presented in the current sham-controlled experiment, using either weekdays (Monday-Friday) or month names (January-December) as stimuli in the temporal order classification task. In addition, to control for possible influences of notation, number stimuli were presented as written German names (One-Five). We report on a successful modulation of spatial-numerical associations of response codes (SNARC) effects with month stimuli induced by anodal tDCS, but failed to observe the same reversal of SNARC effects for weekday stimuli. The former stimulation effect was orthogonal to the small anodal tDCS effect on written number words, which replicates the dissociation of SNARC effects for numbers vs. non-numerical sequences. Moreover, this result reinforces the hypothesis that the ordinal item and task structure was the source of dissociation (as opposed to verbal presentation). We suggest that the diverging results can be explained by the markedness correspondence account of spatial associations in a multiple coding framework. Left-hemispheric prefrontal excitation from anodal tDCS renders verbal markedness relatively more dominant, but this effect is not absolute. We discuss task contagion, study design, and individual differences in performance measures or tDCS response as possible contributors to systematic variation of the weights of multiple coding parameters for spatial-numerical associations.

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“…However, in other studies reliabilities were comparable to those obtained in the presented study (see Cipora, van Dijck, et al, 2018, for a comparison). Recently, Cipora and Wood (2017) showed that the power to detect the SNARC as well as to find between group differences in the effect largely depends on the number of repetitions of each number in a block. Increasing the number of trials leads to higher power.…”

Section: Reliabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The SNARC and MARC effects measured online: Large-scale assessment methods in flexible cognitive effects

et al. 2019

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The Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect (i.e., faster reactions to small/large numbers on the left-/ right-hand side) is usually observed along with the linguistic Markedness of Response Codes (MARC) effect-that is, faster left-/ right-hand responses to odd/even numbers. The SNARC effect is one of the most thoroughly investigated phenomena in numerical cognition. However, almost all SNARC and MARC studies to date were conducted with sample sizes smaller than 100. Here we report on a study with 1,156 participants from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds performing a typical parity judgment task. We investigated whether (1) the SNARC and MARC effects can be observed in an online setup, (2) the properties of these effects observed online are similar to those observed in laboratory setups, (3) the effects are reliable, and (4) they are valid. We found robust SNARC and MARC effects. Their magnitude and reliabilities were comparable to values previously reported in in-lab studies. Furthermore, we reproduced commonly observed validity correlations of the SNARC and MARC effects. Namely, SNARC and MARC correlated with mean reaction times and intraindividual variability in reaction times. Additionally, we found interindividual differences in the SNARC and MARC effects (e.g., finger-counting routines for the SNARC and handedness for the MARC). Large-scale testing via web-based data acquisition not only produces SNARC and MARC effects and validity correlations similar to those from small, in-lab studies, but also reveals substantial insights with regard to interindividual differences that usually cannot be revealed in the offline laboratory, due to power considerations.

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Finding the SNARC Instead of Hunting It: A 20∗20 Monte Carlo Investigation

Cited by 24 publications

References 42 publications

A Minority pulls the sample mean: on the individual prevalence of robust group-level cognitive phenomena – the instance of the SNARC effect

A Minority pulls the sample mean: on the individual prevalence of robust group-level cognitive phenomena – the instance of the SNARC effect

Switching between Multiple Codes of SNARC-Like Associations: Two Conceptual Replication Attempts with Anodal tDCS in Sham-Controlled Cross-Over Design

The SNARC and MARC effects measured online: Large-scale assessment methods in flexible cognitive effects

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