Children's expectations about training the approximate number system
Humans possess a developmentally precocious and evolutionarily ancient approximate number system (ANS) whose sensitivity correlates with uniquely human symbolic arithmetic skills. Recent studies suggest that ANS training improves symbolic arithmetic, but such studies may engender performance expecta...
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Published in | British journal of developmental psychology Vol. 33; no. 4; pp. 411 - 418 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01.11.2015
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Humans possess a developmentally precocious and evolutionarily ancient approximate number system (ANS) whose sensitivity correlates with uniquely human symbolic arithmetic skills. Recent studies suggest that ANS training improves symbolic arithmetic, but such studies may engender performance expectations in their participants that in turn produce the improvement. Here, we assessed 6‐ to 8‐year‐old children's expectations about the effects of numerical and non‐numerical magnitude training, as well as states of satiety and restfulness, in the context of a study linking children's ANS practice to their improved symbolic arithmetic. We found that children did not expect gains in symbolic arithmetic after exercising the ANS, although they did expect gains in ANS acuity after training on any magnitude task. Moreover, children expected gains in symbolic arithmetic after a good night's sleep and their favourite breakfast. Thus, children's improved symbolic arithmetic after ANS training cannot be explained by their expectations about that training. |
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Bibliography: | Fundação para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia - No. SFRH/BD/77098/2011 istex:7962FCEBCD003883023930C9BF081D4C62947E5B National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship - No. DGE-1144152 ArticleID:BJDP12118 National Science Foundation - No. DRL-1348140 ark:/67375/WNG-BKSRZ222-R ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0261-510X 2044-835X |
DOI: | 10.1111/bjdp.12118 |