How Does Visual Hand Prime Guide Spatial-Numerical Mapping During Magnitude Classification?

Spatial-numerical associations (SNAs) link number magnitude to spatial dimensions, typically yielding faster left-side responses to small numbers and right-side responses to large numbers, the SNARC effect. Although widely replicated, the SNARC effect varies across contexts, indicating that it is influenced by situational and embodied factors. The present study examined whether visual hand primes can modulate the SNARC effect in a magnitude classification task. Participants classified digits as smaller or larger than five after viewing schematic images of a left or right hand. The hand primes were task-irrelevant and centrally displayed before each digit, allowing assessment of whether visual cues associated with specific hands bias spatial-numerical mapping. Consistent with previous studies using Turkish samples, the present data revealed no reliable SNARC effect (a non-significant magnitude × side interaction) in the baseline pattern. However, a significant three-way interaction emerged among hand prime, numerical magnitude, and response side: right-hand responses were faster to large digits after right-hand primes, reflecting a partial prime-congruent modulation of spatial-numerical mapping. The effect was not influenced by participants’ habitual finger-counting direction, suggesting that the observed modulation arises from immediate perceptual context rather than long-term embodied routines. Overall, the findings indicate that SNAs are flexible and dynamically shaped by transient embodied cues, even in the absence of a typical SNARC pattern at baseline.