When people reply using the point up method

When people have four point ups like this: ^^^^

does that mean that they are replying to the 4th post above?
or does it mean same as one up but with more emphasis?

if i want to reply to the poster 4 up, I normally do either
^(x4) or

^
^
^
^

I actually just mean the poster above me no matter how many I use. Whoops. lol