Abstract
Fingers facilitate number learning and arithmetic processing in early childhood. The current study investigated whether images of early-learned, culturally-typical (canonical), finger montring patterns presenting smaller (2,3,4) or larger (7,8,9) quantities still facilitate adults’ performance and neural processing in a math verification task. Twenty-eight adults verified solutions to simple addition problems that were shown in the form of canonical or non-canonical finger-number montring patterns while measuring Event Related Potentials (ERPs). Results showed more accurate and faster sum verification when sum solutions were shown by canonical (versus non-canonical) finger patterns. Canonical finger montring patterns 2–4 led to faster responses independent of whether they presented correct or incorrect sum solutions and elicited an enhanced early right-parietal P2p response, whereas canonical configurations 7–9 only facilitated performance in correct sum solution trials without evoking P2p effects. The later central-parietal P3 was enhanced to all canonical finger patterns irrespective of numerical range. These combined results provide behavioral and brain evidence for canonical cardinal finger patterns still having facilitating effects on adults’ number processing. They further suggest that finger montring configurations of numbers 2–4 have stronger internalized associations with other magnitude representations, possibly established through their mediating role in the developmental phase in which children acquire the numerical meaning of the first four number symbols.
Highlights
Fingers facilitate number learning and arithmetic processing in early childhood
Comparing the range effect per canonicitylevel showed a larger range effect for Incorrect Canonical (Mdiff = 87.78 ms; t(49.69)High–low or high number ranges (Low) = 11.24, p < 0.001) compared to Incorrect Non-Canonical ( Mdiff = 47.94 ms; t(49.69)High–Low = 6.14, p < 0.001) trials. These further tests indicate that the lack of a canonicity effect for finger patterns 7–9 on incorrect trials is due to a relatively larger increase in reaction time for canonical finger patterns 7–9 signifying incorrect solutions
The behavioral data showed a statistically significant interaction effect between numerical range, canonicity, and sum solution for reaction time. Further testing of this interaction showed that on trials in which finger patterns presented the correct sum solution, both canonical small [2,3,4] and larger [7,8,9] finger patterns elicited faster magnitude comparison times than their non-canonical counterparts
Summary
Fingers facilitate number learning and arithmetic processing in early childhood. The current study investigated whether images of early-learned, culturally-typical (canonical), finger montring patterns presenting smaller [2,3,4] or larger [7,8,9] quantities still facilitate adults’ performance and neural processing in a math verification task. The later central-parietal P3 was enhanced to all canonical finger patterns irrespective of numerical range These combined results provide behavioral and brain evidence for canonical cardinal finger patterns still having facilitating effects on adults’ number processing. They further suggest that finger montring configurations of numbers 2–4 have stronger internalized associations with other magnitude representations, possibly established through their mediating role in the developmental phase in which children acquire the numerical meaning of the first four number symbols. Due to the frequent use of fingers during the developmental phase in which children first acquire early numeric and math s kills, strong semantic associations may have formed between finger-representations of numbers and other non-symbolic (analog quantities) and symbolic (number words, Arabic digits) number representations. The non-familiarity of non-canonical finger-number configurations and the absence of associations with other types of symbolic and non-symbolic number representations, renders number processing more time-consuming and error-prone
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