Heterogeneity impairs numerical matching but not numerical ordering in preschool children

Abstract

Do preschool children appreciate numerical value as an abstract property of a set of objects? We tested the influence of stimulus features such as size, shape, and color on preschool children's developing nonverbal numerical abilities. Children between 3 and 5 years of age were tested on their ability to estimate number when the sizes, shapes, and colors of the elements in an array were varied (heterogeneous condition) versus when they did not vary (homogeneous condition). One group of children was tested on an ordinal task in which the goal was to select the smaller of two arrays while another group of children was tested on a match-to-sample task in which the goal was to choose one of two visual arrays that matched the sample in number. Children performed above chance on both homogeneous and heterogeneous stimuli in both tasks. However, while children showed no impairment on heterogeneous relative to homogeneous arrays in the ordering task, performance was impaired by heterogeneity in the matching task. We suggest that nonverbal numerical abstraction occurs early in development, but specific task objectives may prevent children from engaging in numerical abstraction.

Gesture as a window onto children’s number knowledge

“…Given that even adult homesigners do not create exact matches between their fingers and sets sizes larger than 4 (Spaepen et al, 2011), we did not expect subset-knowers to do so. However, since children are able to match larger set sizes to each other in an approximate fashion starting around 3 years of age (Cantlon, Fink, Safford, & Brannon, 2007), they should be able to match their gestures to larger set sizes in an approximate fashion as well. This prediction is based on the assumption that numerical gestures, because they are item-based with a transparent mapping between number of fingers and number of items in a set, make it easier for children to map a set onto a number of fingers than to a number word, a mapping that may eventually serve as a bridge to arbitrary symbolic representations of number (i.e., to number words).…”

Seven-month-olds detect ordinal numerical relationships within temporal sequences

“…1016/j.jecp.2010.05.005 aspect of human numerical cognition during infancy had received little attention. The finding that children in preschool can appreciate the ordinal relationships between numerical magnitudes when other continuous non-numerical cues are controlled (Cantlon, Fink, Safford, & Brannon, 2007;Huntley-Fenner & Cannon, 2000; but see Rousselle, Palmers, & Noel, 2004, for opposite findings) led researchers to the conclusion that mastering the symbolic verbal counting system is not a necessary prerequisite for the understanding of ordinal relationships between numbers. However, some authors have argued that appreciation of numerosity precedes the emergence of ordinal knowledge in development.…”

One first? Acquisition of the cardinal and ordinal uses of numbers in preschoolers

“…Ordinal meaning has also been confused with order relations between cardinal numbers such as deciding which one is greater or smaller between two numbers. However, in this case, it is clearly an operation acting on the cardinal meaning of number words (e.g., Brannon & Van de Walle, 2001;Cantlon, Fink, Safford, & Brannon, 2007).…”