Spatializing Emotions Besides Magnitudes: Is There a Left-to-Right Valence or Intensity Mapping?
The Spatial–Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC), namely the automatic association between smaller numbers and left space and between larger numbers and right space, is often attributed to a Mental Number Line (MNL), in which magnitudes would be placed left-to-right. Previous studies have...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2020-05-01
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| Series: | Symmetry |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/12/5/775 |
| _version_ | 1797568606112841728 |
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| author | Giulia Prete |
| author_facet | Giulia Prete |
| author_sort | Giulia Prete |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Spatial–Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC), namely the automatic association between smaller numbers and left space and between larger numbers and right space, is often attributed to a Mental Number Line (MNL), in which magnitudes would be placed left-to-right. Previous studies have suggested that the MNL could be extended to emotional processing. In this study, participants were asked to carry out a parity judgment task (categorizing one to five digits as even or odd) and an emotional judgment task, in which emotional smilies were presented with four emotional expressions (very sad, sad, happy, very happy). Half of the sample was asked to categorize the emotional valence (positive or negative valence), the other half was asked to categorize the emotional intensity (lower or higher intensity). The results of the parity judgment task confirmed the expected SNARC effect. In the emotional judgment task, the performance of both subgroups was better for happy than for sad expressions. Importantly, a better performance was found only in the valence task for lower intensity stimuli categorized with the left hand and for higher intensity stimuli categorized with the right hand, but only for happy smilies. The present results show that neither emotional valence nor emotional intensity alone are spatialized left-to-right, suggesting that magnitudes and emotions are processed independently from one another, and that the mental representation of emotions could be more complex than the bi-dimentional left-to-right spatialization found for numbers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:59:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5e5c532bfd61451cb7f7be8fee943969 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-8994 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T19:59:20Z |
| publishDate | 2020-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Symmetry |
| spelling | doaj.art-5e5c532bfd61451cb7f7be8fee9439692023-11-19T23:43:14ZengMDPI AGSymmetry2073-89942020-05-0112577510.3390/sym12050775Spatializing Emotions Besides Magnitudes: Is There a Left-to-Right Valence or Intensity Mapping?Giulia Prete0Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, Via dei Vestini 29, I-66013 Chieti, ItalyThe Spatial–Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC), namely the automatic association between smaller numbers and left space and between larger numbers and right space, is often attributed to a Mental Number Line (MNL), in which magnitudes would be placed left-to-right. Previous studies have suggested that the MNL could be extended to emotional processing. In this study, participants were asked to carry out a parity judgment task (categorizing one to five digits as even or odd) and an emotional judgment task, in which emotional smilies were presented with four emotional expressions (very sad, sad, happy, very happy). Half of the sample was asked to categorize the emotional valence (positive or negative valence), the other half was asked to categorize the emotional intensity (lower or higher intensity). The results of the parity judgment task confirmed the expected SNARC effect. In the emotional judgment task, the performance of both subgroups was better for happy than for sad expressions. Importantly, a better performance was found only in the valence task for lower intensity stimuli categorized with the left hand and for higher intensity stimuli categorized with the right hand, but only for happy smilies. The present results show that neither emotional valence nor emotional intensity alone are spatialized left-to-right, suggesting that magnitudes and emotions are processed independently from one another, and that the mental representation of emotions could be more complex than the bi-dimentional left-to-right spatialization found for numbers.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/12/5/775spatial–numerical association of response codes (SNARC)emotionshemispheric asymmetryemotional valenceemotional intensitymental number line (MNL) |
| spellingShingle | Giulia Prete Spatializing Emotions Besides Magnitudes: Is There a Left-to-Right Valence or Intensity Mapping? Symmetry spatial–numerical association of response codes (SNARC) emotions hemispheric asymmetry emotional valence emotional intensity mental number line (MNL) |
| title | Spatializing Emotions Besides Magnitudes: Is There a Left-to-Right Valence or Intensity Mapping? |
| title_full | Spatializing Emotions Besides Magnitudes: Is There a Left-to-Right Valence or Intensity Mapping? |
| title_fullStr | Spatializing Emotions Besides Magnitudes: Is There a Left-to-Right Valence or Intensity Mapping? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatializing Emotions Besides Magnitudes: Is There a Left-to-Right Valence or Intensity Mapping? |
| title_short | Spatializing Emotions Besides Magnitudes: Is There a Left-to-Right Valence or Intensity Mapping? |
| title_sort | spatializing emotions besides magnitudes is there a left to right valence or intensity mapping |
| topic | spatial–numerical association of response codes (SNARC) emotions hemispheric asymmetry emotional valence emotional intensity mental number line (MNL) |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/12/5/775 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT giuliaprete spatializingemotionsbesidesmagnitudesistherealefttorightvalenceorintensitymapping |