Abstract
Children show individual differences in their tendency to focus on the numerical aspects of their environment. These individual differences in ‘Spontaneous Focusing on Numerosity’ (SFON) have been shown to predict both current numerical skills and later mathematics success. Here we investigated possible factors which may explain the positive relationship between SFON and symbolic number development. Children aged 4–5 years (N = 130) completed a battery of tasks designed to assess SFON and a range of mathematical skills. Results showed that SFON was positively associated with children's symbolic numerical processing skills and their performance on a standardised test of arithmetic. Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that the relationship between SFON and symbolic mathematics achievement can be explained, in part, by individual differences in children's nonsymbolic numerical processing skills and their ability to map between nonsymbolic and symbolic representations of number.
Highlights
For many children, the development of symbolic number knowledge is a long and arduous process
We run a series of hierarchical regression models to test whether the relationships between Spontaneous Focusing on Numerosity’ (SFON) and mathematical skills can be accounted for by individual differences in children's ability to map between nonsymbolic and symbolic representations of number (Prediction 2)
The present study reveals one way in which SFON may exert its positive influence on arithmetic skills
Summary
The development of symbolic number knowledge (i.e. knowledge of number words and Arabic numerals) is a long and arduous process. Klibanoff, Levine, Huttenlocher, Vasilyeva, & Hedges, 2006) In other words, they have yet to acquire the cardinal principle of counting (Gelman & Gallistel, 1978). Hannula and colleagues have demonstrated that preschoolers show individual differences in their tendency to focus on numerical information in informal everyday contexts. These individual differences in ‘Spontaneous Focusing on Numerosity’ (SFON) are related to children's counting skills (Hannula & Lehtinen, 2005; Hannula, Ra€sa€nen, & Lehtinen, 2007) and they predict later arithmetical success (Hannula, Lepola, & Lehtinen, 2010; Hannula-Sormunen, Lehtinen, & Ra€s€anen, 2015; McMullen, Hannula-Sormunen, & Lehtinen, 2015)
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