Emotions Disrupt but Do Not Map onto Spatial-Numerical Associations

Spatial-numerical associations (SNAs), such as the SNARC effect, demonstrate that numerical magnitude is represented along a left-right continuum. Theories of shared magnitude processing (ATOM) and polarity correspondence suggest that emotional dimensions might be spatialized in a similar way. Across two experiments, we tested whether emotional valence and intensity elicit spatial-emotional associations and whether exposure to emotional stimuli modulates numerical SNAs. In Experiment 1, participants completed a number parity judgment task (NT) and a gender judgment task with emotional faces (FT) that varied in both valence (happy/sad) and intensity (0%, 20%, 80%, 100%). Experiment 2 removed direct valence contrasts by presenting either happy or fearful faces per participant, isolating intensity effects. Across both experiments, the NT revealed a reliable reverse SNARC effect. Crucially, this effect disappeared when the FT preceded the NT, indicating that emotionally salient stimuli disrupted subsequent SNAs. By contrast, emotional intensity produced no consistent spatial mapping in the FT, regardless of valence. These findings challenge the view that emotional magnitude is spatialized like numerical magnitude and instead suggest that emotional stimuli indirectly influence SNAs by taxing attentional or control processes. Emotional salience thus modulates, but does not itself constitute, spatial-magnitude representations.