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Updated: Jun 28, 2026
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The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
Published on: February 19, 2018
Spatial associations in relational reasoning: evidence for a SNARC-like effect
Jérôme Prado1, Jean-Baptiste Van der Henst, Ira A Noveck
1Laboratoire sur le Langage, le Cerveau et la Cognition (L2C2), CNRS-Université de Lyon, Bron, France. jprado@umich.edu
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|October 22, 2008
Summary
Relational reasoning and numerical cognition share spatial response effects. A linear mental representation influences motor performance, similar to the Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes effect in number comparison.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Relational reasoning and numerical cognition exhibit shared behavioral signatures, such as the symbolic distance effect.
- The symbolic distance effect demonstrates that reaction times decrease as the distance between ordered items (in reasoning or numbers) increases.
- Despite similarities, the precise nature of analogical representations in relational reasoning remains debated.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate further overlapping behavioral effects between numerical cognition and relational reasoning.
- To determine if relational reasoning also exhibits spatial response effects analogous to those found in numerical cognition.
- To examine the influence of linear mental representations on motor performance during relational reasoning tasks.
Main Methods:
- Participants solved relational reasoning problems requiring the mental alignment of six ordered items.
- Motor performance (response time and accuracy) was measured based on the hand used for responding (left vs. right).
- The study utilized spatial prepositions (left/right, above/below) to probe the linear mental representation.
Main Results:
- A significant interaction between the spatial location of items in the linear representation and the side of response was observed.
- Items positioned on the left of the mental representation were evaluated faster with the left hand, and vice versa for the right side.
- This spatial-motor association in relational reasoning is analogous to the Spatial Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) effect.
Conclusions:
- Relational reasoning, like numerical cognition, is associated with spatial response codes, suggesting a deeper shared cognitive architecture.
- The findings provide evidence for a linear mental representation influencing motor performance in relational reasoning.
- This study strengthens the analogy between relational reasoning and numerical cognition by identifying a common behavioral effect.
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