Effects Of Verbal Working Memory Load On SNARC-like Effect In Different Tasks

In previous cognitive psychology studies,the SNARC-like effect has been widely studied and supported.It is used to describe the phenomenon of the left association of decimal and space,and the right association of large Numbers and space.The researchers used non-numerical sequential materials to study the SNARC effect,and the results varied from experiment to experiment.Further exploration is needed as to whether SNARC effects are activated by quantitative or sequential representations of Numbers,or whether they are produced by a combination of the two.In addition,it is still controversial whether digital representation of space is automatically activated by mental digital lines in long-term memory or strategic decisions based on current tasks in working memory.Therefore,the purpose of this study was to:(1)investigate whether sequential information can cause SNARC effect and(2)investigate whether SANRC effect is innate,i.e.activated by long-term mental digital line,or caused by working memory mechanism or both.Baseline experiment with load experiment,this study is divided into eight baseline experiments using English letters ? A?C?E?G?I?K?M?O)as experiment material,quickly classification paradigm,asked subjects to order the letter quickly judge anterior/posterior(H)and vowel,consonant judgment,to explore whether there is SNARC effect of sequential information.Load experiment using eight letters(still is:A?C?E?G?I?K?M?O)and 24 letter(composed of the above eight letters randomly,each letter contains five letters)as material,adopt dual task paradigm,the main task is to require the participants quickly to order to judge the letters from the memory of the letter(H)before/after judging and vowel,consonant,not in the letters from the letter makes no reaction,the secondary task is to keep the letter in the working memory and extraction.The conclusions of this study are as follows:(1)in the baseline experiment,alphabetic SNARC-like effect was observed in the sequence judgment task and vowel-consonant judgment,indicating that the sequence feature of stimulus could activate alphabetic SNARC effect;(2)under the verbal working memory load,the alphabetic SNARC-like effect appeared in the sequential judgment task,but disappeared in the meta-consonant judgment task,indicating that the availability of verbal working memory resources plays an important role in the activation of SNARC-like effect in the meta-consonant judgment task.It further indicates that the types of working memory resources required by different tasks maybe different.(3)alphabetic SNARC-like effect and sequence position effect of sequential judgment task appeared simultaneously,indicating that the occurrence of alphabetic SNARC effect was caused by both long-term memory and working memory.