The Faulty Magnitude Detector: Why SNARC-Like Tasks Cannot Support a Generalized Magnitude System

Abstract

Do people represent space, time, number, and other conceptual domains using a generalized magnitude system (GMS)? To answer this question, numerous studies have used the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) task and its variants. Yet, for a combination of reasons, SNARC-like effects cannot provide evidence for a GMS, even in principle. Rather, these effects support a broader theory of how people use space metaphorically to scaffold their understanding of myriad non-spatial domains, whether or not these domains exhibit variation in magnitude.