Abstract
The main aim of this study was to analyze the patterns of changes in Approximate Number Sense (ANS) precision from grade 1 (mean age: 7.84 years) to grade 9 (mean age: 15.82 years) in a sample of Russian schoolchildren. To fulfill this aim, the data from a longitudinal study of two cohorts of children were used. The first cohort was assessed at grades 1–5 (elementary school education plus the first year of secondary education), and the second cohort was assessed at grades 5–9 (secondary school education). ANS precision was assessed by accuracy and reaction time (RT) in a non-symbolic comparison test (“blue-yellow dots” test). The patterns of change were estimated via mixed-effect growth models. The results revealed that in the first cohort, the average accuracy increased from grade 1 to grade 5 following a non-linear pattern and that the rate of growth slowed after grade 3 (7–9 years old). The non-linear pattern of changes in the second cohort indicated that accuracy started to increase from grade 7 to grade 9 (13–15 years old), while there were no changes from grade 5 to grade 7. However, the RT in the non-symbolic comparison test decreased evenly from grade 1 to grade 7 (7–13 years old), and the rate of processing non-symbolic information tended to stabilize from grade 7 to grade 9. Moreover, the changes in the rate of processing non-symbolic information were not explained by the changes in general processing speed. The results also demonstrated that accuracy and RT were positively correlated across all grades. These results indicate that accuracy and the rate of non-symbolic processing reflect two different processes, namely, the maturation and development of a non-symbolic representation system.
Highlights
Humans and other species are equipped with the ability to perceive and process numerical information without counting and using symbols (e.g., Cantlon and Brannon, 2007; Agrillo et al, 2009; Nieder and Dehaene, 2009)
The results demonstrated that accuracy and reaction time (RT) were positively correlated across all grades
The results revealed that across all grades, the highest accuracy was obtained with the smallest proportion
Summary
Humans and other species are equipped with the ability to perceive and process numerical information without counting and using symbols (e.g., Cantlon and Brannon, 2007; Agrillo et al, 2009; Nieder and Dehaene, 2009). This ability can be supported by several systems of non-symbolic numerosity representations depending on the number of objects that should be perceived and the objects’ separation. The first system is subitizing, which is the ability to precisely estimate numerosity in cases in which the number of objects is less than 4 (e.g., Revkin et al, 2008). If the number of objects is larger than 3–4 and the boundaries of the objects are distinct, the Approximate Number System (ANS) is activated to estimate numerosity (Burr and Ross, 2008; Viswanathan and Nieder, 2013). Numerous studies have demonstrated that when the number of objects increases and they have high density, objects are likely to be perceived as an inseparable texture, and the third system – texture-density discrimination – is activated (e.g., Anobile et al, 2016; Pomè et al, 2019)
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