The development of the SNARC effect: Evidence for early verbal coding

• Published in: Journal of experimental child psychology 2012-04, Vol.111 (4), p.671-680
• Main Authors: Imbo, Ineke, Brauwer, Jolien De, Fias, Wim, Gevers, Wim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age Differences; Age Factors; Association Learning - physiology; Belgium; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Development; Child psychology; Children; Coding; Cognitive Development; Comparative Analysis; Developmental psychology; Elementary Education; Evidence; Experimental Psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Interpersonal communication; Linguistics; Magnitude comparison; Male; Mathematical Concepts; Mathematics; Number Concepts; Numeracy; Numerical cognition; Observation; Problem Solving - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Reaction Time - physiology; SNARC effect; Space Perception - physiology; Spatial Ability; Spatial coding; Task Analysis; Tests; Verbal Ability; Verbal coding; Verbal Learning - physiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0022-0965; 1096-0457
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2011.09.002

► A recent study showed that verbal (and not spatial) coding dominates the SNARC effect in adults. ► Is the SNARC effect in children best explained by verbal or spatial coding? ► Elementary-school children of 9 and 11years old were tested in a magnitude comparison task. ► Clear and robust evidence for verbal coding was observed in both age groups. ► Numbers are coded in a verbal way already relatively early in formal schooling. In a recent study, Gevers and colleagues (2010, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Vol. 139, pp. 180–190) showed that the SNARC (spatial numerical association of response codes) effect in adults results not only from spatial coding of magnitude (e.g., mental number line hypothesis) but also from verbal coding. Because children are surrounded by rulers, number lines, and the like in the classroom, it is intuitively appealing to assume that they first use their mental number line to represent numbers and that only later in development a verbal recoding of magnitude information takes place. However, this hypothesis has never been tested. The goal of the current study was to define the developmental pattern of both accounts (spatial and verbal) in explaining the SNARC effect. To this end, 9- and 11-year-olds were tested in a magnitude comparison task. Surprisingly, clear and robust evidence for verbal coding of magnitude information was observed in both age groups. Our results imply that the ability to use verbal coding of magnitude information is robustly present early in formal schooling.