Deconstructing the Cognitive Estimation Task: A Developmental Examination and Intra-Task Contrast

Abstract

The cognitive estimation task (CET) requires participants to answer estimation questions that lack definitive answers. Few studies examine CET performance in healthy populations, and even fewer in children. Previous research has not considered differences between categories within the CET. The categories differ in their reliance on units of measurement, which is significant when examining CET performance in children due to educational factors. The goal of the study was to examine CET performance in 10 and 12 year-old children and contrast the CET categories. We found a developmental effect in overall CET performance: children’s performance was more extreme than adults but no differences were found between the groups of children. Examination of the CET categories revealed differential developmental trajectories: the children’s scores were more extreme in weight and time, while comparable to adults in quantity. We conclude that CET questions that require application of units of measurement are more difficult for childern due to higher involvement of executive functions, and children have less experience applying them in daily life. The CET is not a unified construct and has the potential to shed light on how children acquire an understanding of magnitudes and units of measurement.

Understanding Estimations of Magnitudes: An fMRI Investigation

“…Namely, even if the estimations of all magnitudes originate from a common mechanism [ 13 ], there is a need to use different units of measurements for the various contexts of magnitude. Silverman and Ashkenazi [ 22 ] examined the developmental effect of usage of units of measurement in CET, comparing groups of 10- and 12-year-old children to adults. Different developmental trajectories for different estimation categories were found.…”

“…Children’s estimations were more extreme, relative to adults, in weight and time evaluations, but comparable to adults in quantity evaluations. The authors concluded that CET questions that require estimations of continuous entities using discrete measurement units are more difficult for children due to higher involvement of executive functions, and children have less experience applying them in daily life [ 22 ]. In another study, Ashkenazi and Tsyganova [ 23 ] found that different estimation categories had different relations to domain-general abilities (e.g., IQ, working memory) and numerical abilities.…”

“…The current study presents a new approach to test CET that is based on our previous studies [ 22 , 23 ] and customized to be used during fMRI. Our study aims to answer several questions.…”

The right anterior temporal lobe critically contributes to magnitude knowledge

“…Interestingly, empirical support can be found for both predictions. On one hand, it was demonstrated that school children perform worse than adults on cognitive estimation tests (CETs) ( Silverman and Ashkenazi, 2016 ) and that estimation performance steadily increases during childhood ( Harel et al , 2007 ). Concerning its development from early to late adulthood, several cross-sectional studies conducted in large groups of participants ( N > 100) with wide age ranges found no effect of age on estimation performance ( Bullard et al , 2004 ; Della Sala et al , 2004 ; Scarpina et al , 2015 ).…”