The SNARC effect is associated with worse mathematical intelligence and poorer time estimation

Interactions between the ways we process space, numbers and time may arise from shared and innate generic magnitude representations. Alternatively or concurrently, such interactions could be due to the use of physical magnitudes, like spatial extent, as metaphors for more abstract ones, like number and duration. That numbers might be spatially represented along a mental number line is suggested by the SNARC effect: faster left-side responses to small single digits, like 1 or 2, and faster right-side responses to large ones, like 8 or 9. Previously, we found that time estimation predicts mathematical intelligence and speculated that it may predict spatial ability too. Here, addressing this issue, we test—on a relatively large sample of adults and entirely within subjects—the relationships between (a) time: proficiency at producing and evaluating durations shorter than one second, (b) space: the ability to mentally rotate objects, (c) numbers: mathematical reasoning skills, and (d) space–number associations: the SNARC effect. Better time estimation was linked to greater mathematical intelligence and better spatial skills. Strikingly, however, stronger associations between space and numbers predicted worse mathematical intelligence and poorer time estimation.