Project Details
Projekt
Replicability of Fundamental Results on Spatial-Numerical Associations in Highly Powered Online Experiments (e-SNARC)
Subject Area
General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
Term
since 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 462017177
Spatial-Numerical Associations (SNAs) play a fundamental role for how humans represent numbers, and how they learn and use mathematics. Among SNAs, the Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC, i.e., faster responses to small / large magnitude numbers with left / right hand respectively) effect is the hallmark, most thoroughly investigated effect. Nevertheless, despite almost three decades of research, many pivotal questions still remain unresolved. This may be partly due to the fact that several early SNARC results were obtained in small N (and probably underpowered) experiments. Because this holds even for theoretically important and popular foundations of the SNARC effect, this considerably limits our understanding of SNAs and makes our common ground for further research shaky. For this project, we identify 3 fundamental questions about the SNAs and the SNARC effect, which we plan to address in highly powered large-scale online experiments: (1) automaticity – i.e., how much active semantic processing of the numerical stimuli is needed to evoke the spatial association, (2) task (in-)dependence – i.e., whether and how SNAs differ depending on the specific task we use to measure them, and (3) context (in-)dependence – i.e., whether spatial associations depend only on relative or also on absolute numerical magnitudes. For future empirical and theoretical developments it is essential to clarify these basic foundations of the SNARC effect and provide high-quality empirical evidence, whether and when these effects exist or not.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
International Connection
United Kingdom
Cooperation Partner
Dr. Krzysztof Cipora
