Investigating No SNARC: Do Reading Habits Provide Insight into the SNARC Patterns of Turkish Sample?

Abstract

The mental number line (MNL) represents numbers spatially with smaller numbers on the left and larger numbers on the right as demonstrated by the SNARC effect. This effect is influenced by reading direction with left-to-right languages (e.g. English) showing a stronger SNARC effect compared to right-to-left languages (e.g. Hebrew). However previous research has shown the absence of SNARC in Turkish samples despite a left-to-right reading orientation. This study explored the role of reading habits in the SNARC effect among Turkish participants (N = 50). Participants categorized as light or heavy readers completed a parity judgment task. Both one-sample t-tests and Bayesian analysis revealed no SNARC effect in either group. These findings suggest that reading habits alone may not explain the absence of SNARC in Turkish participants. The lack of the effect may be influenced by other factors such as cultural differences or the specific characteristics of the Turkish language. © 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.