Spontaneous orientation towards irrelevant dimensions of magnitude and numerical acuity

Children's attention to numerical quantities relates to verbal number knowledge: An introduction to the Build‐A‐Train task

“…Specifically, children were more likely to use a number approach for small trains and a size approach for relatively larger trains. The findings from this study also diverge from those from the SOMAG task (Viarouge et al., 2018, 2019) which reveal that children are more likely to match on size and space than number. This might be due to the fact that the quantities in the SOMAG task ranged from 8 to 18 dots, whereas the quantities in our Build‐A‐Train task were five or fewer (i.e., quantities that are within the range of children's verbal number knowledge).…”

“…Negen & Sarnecka, 2015). Given this, combined with findings from the SOMAG task on large sets (Viarouge et al, 2018), it is conceivable that non-numerical magnitudes, such as physical size, may be more salient features of sets than quantity for young children, as children acquire verbal number knowledge. Therefore, in addition to addressing our key of 'do young children spontaneously attend to quantity or size?'…”

“…Indeed, the correlation between verbal number knowledge and non‐symbolic quantity processing disappears when the task includes a control that does not allow children to rely on cues from continuous magnitudes (e.g., amount of area taken up by the dots; Negen & Sarnecka, 2015). Given this, combined with findings from the SOMAG task on large sets (Viarouge et al., 2018), it is conceivable that non‐numerical magnitudes, such as physical size, may be more salient features of sets than quantity for young children, as children acquire verbal number knowledge. Therefore, in addition to addressing our key of ‘do young children spontaneously attend to quantity or size?’ in an un‐cued matching task in which children generate rather than compare arrays, we examine the research question: ‘does the degree to which children attend to number or size relate to their verbal number knowledge?’…”

“…Findings from the FAM task reveal that young children can attend to both quantity and size, and even flexibly switch between attending to quantities and size. A related task examining children's spontaneous orientation towards different dimensions of magnitude (SOMAG) was recently developed to uncover the role of continuous magnitudes in the development of numerical representations (Viarouge et al., 2018). The SOMAG task is a card sorting task in which a child is instructed to match an array to one of two target arrays of dots that match based on number, size or spacing of the dots.…”

Dyscalculia and Typical Math Achievement Are Associated With Individual Differences in Number‐Specific Executive Function

“…Prior research has documented that individuals with a tendency to spontaneously focus on exact quantities have higher arithmetic abilities (Batchelor, Inglis, & Gilmore, ; Hannula, Lepola, & Lehtinen, ). Recently, this line of research has been expanded to incorporate spontaneous orientation to conflicting or irrelevant dimensions of non‐numerical magnitude similar to those of this study (Viarouge et al., ). Research on the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms can also help to distill the root of the differences observed in the current results.…”