Symbolic Processing Mediates the Relation Between Non-symbolic Processing and Later Arithmetic Performance

Abstract

The nature of the relation between non-symbolic and symbolic magnitude processing in the prediction of arithmetic remains a hotly debated subject. This longitudinal study examined whether the influence of non-symbolic magnitude processing on arithmetic is mediated by symbolic processing skills. A sample of 130 children with age-adequate (N = 73) or below-average (N = 57) achievement in early arithmetic was followed from the end of Grade 1 (mean age: 86.9 months) through the beginning of Grade 4. Symbolic comparison of one-and two-digit numbers serially mediated the effect of non-symbolic comparison on later arithmetic. These results support a developmental model in which non-symbolic processing provides a scaffold for single-digit processing, which in turn influences multi-digit processing and arithmetic. In conclusion, both non-symbolic and symbolic processing play an important role in the development of arithmetic during primary school and might be valuable long-term indicators for the early identification of children at risk for low achievement in arithmetic.

Online college English education in Wuhan against the COVID-19 pandemic: Student and teacher readiness, challenges and implications

“…Zou et al [57] explored three English writing teachers' engagement with online formative PLOS ONE assessment during COVID-19 in three universities in China, and identified three types of teacher engagement, namely disturbing, auxiliary, and integral engagements. Gao and Zhang [58] analyzed in-depth interviews with three English teachers from a Chinese university and found that teachers had clear cognitions about features, advantages, and constraints of online English teaching.…”

Effects of intelligence and approximate number system on the non-symbolic division ability in preschoolers

“…Acquiring fundamental arithmetic skills is a crucial aspect of early education, and various cognitive abilities like approximate number system (ANS), number knowledge, and intelligence are linked to these skills. The relationship among these variables and early arithmetic skills, however, is yet to be fully specified (Mussolin et al, 2014;Elliott et al, 2019;Finke et al, 2020). Recent studies have provided evidence of a positive association between ANS ability and fundamental mathematical knowledge (He et al, 2016;Elliott et al, 2019;Finke et al, 2020).…”

An Investigation of the Frequency of Time and Number Words Used in Informal Conversations with Children

“…Despite numerous studies showing a correlation between symbolic and non-symbolic numerical abilities and growing evidence of a similar correlation in the domain of time, little work has investigated the direction of this relationship. In other words, it is unknown if our non-symbolic abilities form the basis for understanding symbols (scaffolding hypothesis; e.g., Finke et al, 2020;Holloway & Ansari, 2009;Lyons et al, 2018) or if understanding of domain-specific symbolic information improves our non-symbolic abilities (refinement hypothesis; e.g., Shusterman et al, 2016;Suárez-Pellicioni & Booth, 2018). In the future, researchers should conduct studies using both children and adults to analyze the relationship between the frequency of time and number words and people's ability to process these quantities (i.e., nonsymbolic time and number abilities).…”