Episodic retrieval and the SNARC effect

The SNARC effect is the finding that left-hand responses are faster to small digits and right-hand responses are faster to large digits. I tested an episodic-retrieval account of the SNARC effect in which it is assumed that the response time varies as a function of the prior trial episodes available in working memory. Blocks of trials were constructed in which two digits were repeated 75% of the time; presumably, these two "focus" digits would be readily available in working memory. Under such circumstances, there was no overall SNARC effect. Instead, response times were faster when the stimulus-response mapping was consistent with most of the trials in the block. This means that the usual SNARC effect was obtained when the focus digits were consistent with that effect, and that a reverse SNARC effect was obtained when responses to those digits were inconsistent with it.