The Use of Perceptual Cues for Number Judgment by Young Children

Abstract

SMITHER, SUZANNE J.; SMILEY, SANDRA S.; and REES, ROD. The Use of Perceptual Cues for Number Judgment by Young Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 693-699. 3-, 4?-, and 6-year-olds were administered a static, 3-choice number judgment task consisting of 16 problems which varied in magnitude of number (N) and in number difference (NA), length difference (LA), and density difference (DA) ratios. When N and LA were small and NA and DA large, all age groups made a high percentage of accurate number judgments. When N was large and NA small, all age groups judged on the basis of length. On most problems older children were more accurate than younger children, and on no problem was any younger group more accurate than any older group.