Verbal count sequence knowledge underpins numeral order processing in children

Gilmore, Camilla; Batchelor, Sophie

doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103294

Cited by 11 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…2–3 – 4) than those that are further apart (e.g. 2–4 – 6) [ 33 , 36 ] and/or the role of verbal count sequence knowledge [ 31 , 58 ]. The fact that we found no evidence of an RDE and instead evidence of an NDE for the order judgement task suggests that the processes involved in completing the artificial symbol order judgement task are not the same as those involved in an Arabic numeral order judgement task.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning artificial number symbols with ordinal and magnitude information

Weiers,

Inglis,

Gilmore

2023

R. Soc. open sci.

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The question of how numerical symbols gain semantic meaning is a key focus of mathematical cognition research. Some have suggested that symbols gain meaning from magnitude information, by being mapped onto the approximate number system, whereas others have suggested symbols gain meaning from their ordinal relations to other symbols. Here we used an artificial symbol learning paradigm to investigate the effects of magnitude and ordinal information on number symbol learning. Across two experiments, we found that after either magnitude or ordinal training, adults successfully learned novel symbols and were able to infer their ordinal and magnitude meanings. Furthermore, adults were able to make relatively accurate judgements about, and map between, the novel symbols and non-symbolic quantities (dot arrays). Although both ordinal and magnitude training was sufficient to attach meaning to the symbols, we found beneficial effects on the ability to learn and make numerical judgements about novel symbols when combining small amounts of magnitude information for a symbol subset with ordinal information about the whole set. These results suggest that a combination of magnitude and ordinal information is a plausible account of the symbol learning process.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning artificial number symbols with ordinal and magnitude information

Weiers,

Inglis,

Gilmore

2023

R. Soc. open sci.

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“…In other words, young children initially rely on verbal reciting strategies when judging numerical order. This could then explain young children’s reliable performance when identifying adjacent ordered sequences as being in the correct ascending order as opposed to their struggle with non-adjacent ordered trials ([ 126 ], see also [ 112 , 127 ]). A qualitative reorganization of how children process the ordinality of numerical sequences, caused by a shift from depending on a verbal list system to a spatially ordered representational system [ 128 ], then probably underlies their ability to extend notions of ordinality beyond the count-list at later developmental stages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The latter cognitive variables should also be considered when further assessing the mental processes explaining relations between spatial language and certain (but not all) aspects of early numerical development (e.g., counting). To get a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the predictive effects of spatial language, one might also, for instance, specifically contrast relations between spatial language and ordinal judgments using adjacent as well as non-adjacent ordered sequences in younger and older children, since only the former but not the latter age group supposedly still relies on the verbal count list when judging numerical order (e.g., [ 127 ]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of spatial language for early numerical development in preschool: Going beyond verbal number skills

Georges,

Cornu,

Schiltz

2023

PLoS ONE

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Recent evidence suggests that spatial language in preschool positively affects the development of verbal number skills, as indexed by aggregated performances on counting and number naming tasks. We firstly aimed to specify whether spatial language (the knowledge of locative prepositions) significantly relates to both of these measures. In addition, we assessed whether the predictive value of spatial language extends beyond verbal number skills to numerical subdomains without explicit verbal component, such as number writing, symbolic magnitude classifications, ordinal judgments and numerosity comparisons. To determine the unique contributions of spatial language to these numerical skills, we controlled in our regression analyses for intrinsic and extrinsic spatial abilities, phonological awareness as well as age, socioeconomic status and home language. With respect to verbal number skills, it appeared that spatial language uniquely predicted forward and backward counting but not number naming, which was significantly affected only by phonological awareness. Regarding numerical tasks that do not contain explicit verbal components, spatial language did not relate to number writing or numerosity comparisons. Conversely, it explained unique variance in symbolic magnitude classifications and was the only predictor of ordinal judgments. These findings thus highlight the importance of spatial language for early numerical development beyond verbal number skills and suggest that the knowledge of spatial terms is especially relevant for processing cardinal and ordinal relations between symbolic numbers. Promoting spatial language in preschool might thus be an interesting avenue for fostering the acquisition of these symbolic numerical skills prior to formal schooling.

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“…Numerical ordering skills (e.g., recognising that triplets of digits are either in numerical order or not in numerical order) have received increasing attention (see Devlin et al, 2022 , for a review). Specific associations with ordering skills have been found for written abstract arithmetic ( Goffin & Ansari, 2016 ), timed measures of arithmetic fluency ( Lyons & Ansari, 2015 ; Morsanyi et al, 2017 ; Sasanguie et al, 2017 ), and count sequence knowledge ( Gilmore & Batchelor, 2021 ).…”

Section: Existing Evidence For the Multi-level Framework Of Mathemati...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the complexities of mathematical cognition: A multi-level framework

Gilmore

2023

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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Mathematics skills are associated with future employment, wellbeing and quality of life. However, many adults and children fail to learn the mathematics skills they require. To improve this situation, we need to have a better understanding of the processes of learning and performing mathematics. Over the past two decades there has been a substantial growth in psychological research focusing on mathematics. However, to make further progress we need to pay greater attention to the nature of, and multiple elements involved in, mathematical cognition. Mathematics is not a single construct; rather, overall mathematics achievement is comprised of proficiency with specific components of mathematics (e.g., number fact knowledge, algebraic thinking), which in turn recruit basic mathematical processes (e.g., magnitude comparison, pattern recognition). General cognitive skills and different learning experiences influence the development of each component of mathematics as well as the links between them. Here I propose and provide evidence for a framework that structures how these components of mathematics fit together. This framework allows us to make sense of the proliferation of empirical findings concerning influences on mathematical cognition and can guide the questions we ask, identifying where we are missing both research evidence and models of specific mechanisms.

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Verbal count sequence knowledge underpins numeral order processing in children

Cited by 11 publications

References 56 publications

Learning artificial number symbols with ordinal and magnitude information

Learning artificial number symbols with ordinal and magnitude information

The importance of spatial language for early numerical development in preschool: Going beyond verbal number skills

Understanding the complexities of mathematical cognition: A multi-level framework

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