Emotional SNARC: Emotional faces affect the impact of number magnitude on gaze patterns.

Abstract

The Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) efect is characterised by a spatial cognitive representation of low numbers to the left side of space and high numbers to the right side of space. This efect has been found using a diversity of stimuli and experimental paradigms. However, the infuence of emotional stimuli on this efect remains unclear. In this study, the SNARC efect is analysed in relation to pairs of emotional facial stimuli (happy–neutral, sad–neutral and happy–sad pairs). Gaze patterns of 151 participants were analysed when exposed to a free-viewing eye-tracking paradigm consisting of pairs of emotional faces preceded by small and large numbers. Replicating previous results, a standard SNARC efect was found independently of the emotional expressions of the faces (i.e., there was a signifcant linear trend of number magnitude in the frequency of frst fxations of the gaze to the left side space). However, specifc slope analyses revealed that the SNARC efect was infuenced by the spatial position of each emotion presented in the emotional pairs. Specifcally, the efect disappeared in happy–neutral trials, when the happy faces were allocated in the right position and also in happy–sad trials when two emotional stimuli were simultaneously displayed. The study revealed that the SNARC efect is sensitive to the spatial position of emotional stimuli which further adds to other known limits of the phenomenon. The limitations of the study and its implications in the area of cognition and emotion are also discussed.