Symbolic Number Abilities Predict Later Approximate Number System Acuity in Preschool Children

TLDR

Research debates how the approximate number system and symbolic number knowledge influence each other during development. This study seeks to determine the developmental direction of the association between these two abilities in early childhood. Fifty‑seven 3‑ to 4‑year‑old children completed two assessments seven months apart, measuring numerosity discrimination precision and manipulation of number words and Arabic digits, and the authors compared cross‑time relationships to infer predictive direction. Results show that cardinality proficiency and symbolic number knowledge predict later numerosity comparison accuracy, while the reverse links are non‑significant, providing the first longitudinal evidence that early symbolic number acquisition precedes refinement of the approximate number system.

Abstract

An ongoing debate in research on numerical cognition concerns the extent to which the approximate number system and symbolic number knowledge influence each other during development. The current study aims at establishing the direction of the developmental association between these two kinds of abilities at an early age. Fifty-seven children of 3–4 years performed two assessments at 7 months interval. In each assessment, children's precision in discriminating numerosities as well as their capacity to manipulate number words and Arabic digits was measured. By comparing relationships between pairs of measures across the two time points, we were able to assess the predictive direction of the link. Our data indicate that both cardinality proficiency and symbolic number knowledge predict later accuracy in numerosity comparison whereas the reverse links are not significant. The present findings are the first to provide longitudinal evidence that the early acquisition of symbolic numbers is an important precursor in the developmental refinement of the approximate number representation system.