The role of cognitive control in the interaction of the SNARC and MARC effects

Many studies have identified two types of spatial congruency effects in number parity judgment tasks: the SNARC effect (Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes), related to numerical magnitude, and the MARC effect (Linguistic Markedness Association of Response Codes), associated with parity. Although previous work has found that these effects interact, the mechanisms underlying the interaction are unclear. Previous studies have investigated the effect of linguistic connections on the activation of the SNARC and MARC effects in right-to-left readers by manipulating the time interval between tasks. We propose that a cognitive control mechanism mediates this phenomenon, with the level of cognitive conflict induced by the MARC effect under varying conditions being a critical factor in influencing spatial-numerical associations. We first performed four behavioral experiments manipulating time intervals between parity-to-response mappings. The results demonstrate that interactions between the SNARC and MARC effects are not sensitive to changes in time intervals but are primarily influenced by the congruency between the two effects. We then performed an event related potentials study. The response patterns observed in the P300 component support the hypothesis that cognitive conflict levels influence spatial-numerical associations. In conclusion, this study highlights the essential role of cognitive control in modulating the conflict between the SNARC and MARC effects, providing a new theoretical perspective on the dynamic characteristics of spatial-numerical associations.