Doctoral Dissertation Research: Integrating Numerical and Linguistic Knowledge in the Exact Interpretation of Numerals

在自然语言中，传达数量信息的词语随处可见。因此，我们大脑中专注于数字的部分和我们大脑中专注于语言的部分必须有一种方式来相互交流。有人认为，语言和我们大脑中管理空间信息的部分也必须以这种方式进行交流。然而，还没有研究对儿童的数字知识进行测试，以确定它们是否可以预测语言知识中数量敏感的部分。这个项目的目标是调查儿童对数字的准确解释中的数字-语言联系。虽然数字通常被认为是准确的，但它们也可以有“至少”的解释(例如，吃6个甜甜圈就是也吃了5个甜甜圈)。对于孩子们判断一个数字何时准确、何时不准确的能力来说，还有什么是重要的？研究人员将测试儿童的词汇量，看看他们是否能预测准确的解释。研究人员还将测试儿童认知的一部分，即执行功能，即我们大脑中专用于工作记忆、注意力和抑制的部分，以确定它们是否具有预测性。通过这种方式，该研究项目将使我们更好地了解我们大脑的不同组成部分是如何协同工作的，从而使我们能够对数字做出非常重要的解释，这对后来儿童的数量和数学思维是有价值的。这个项目将研究说单一西班牙语的人的这种发展，因为有一些证据表明，数字思维在不同的语言中可能会有所不同。这项研究包括一个视频真值判断任务(TVJT)，以测量儿童作为因变量的准确性解释。这一过程将提高研究人员通过使用比之前研究中使用的数字更高的数字来衡量可识别性的能力。儿童的数字知识将使用认知发展中的常规任务来测量数字估计：使用Panamath的近似数字系统(ANS)；使用给予A数字的计数；使用数字集合的数字感觉和划分；以及数字-线任务。这些措施应该提供自然语言量词准确解释中数字认知特性的证据，并使研究人员能够模拟语言和数字如何在执行功能的中介下相互作用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Words that convey quantity information are everywhere in natural language. Consequently, there must be a way for the part of our mind dedicated to number and the part of our mind dedicated to language to communicate with each other. It has been argued that language and the part of our mind that manages spatial information must also communicate in this way. However, no research has taken tests of children’s number knowledge to see if they are predictive of the quantity-sensitive parts of the language knowledge. The goal of this project is to investigate the number-language connection in children’s exact interpretations of numbers. Though numbers are usually thought of as exact, they can also have, for example, “at least” interpretations (e.g. to eat 6 donuts is to also have eaten 5 donuts). What else matters for children’s abilities to know when a number is exact and when it isn’t? The investigators will test children’s vocabularies to see if they predict exact interpretations. The researchers will also test a part of children’s cognition called executive function, namely, the parts of our minds dedicated to working memory, attention and inhibition, to see whether they are predictive. In this way, the research project will lead to a better understanding of how the different components of our mind work together to allow us to draw a very important type of interpretation of numbers, which are valuable for later quantitative and mathematical thinking in children. This project will study this development in monolingual Spanish-speakers because there is some evidence that numerical thinking can vary across languages. The study includes a video-recorded Truth-Value Judgment Task (TVJT) to measure children’s exactness interpretations as the dependent variable. This procedure will improve the researchers' ability to measure discriminability by using numbers higher than those used in previous research. Children’s numerical knowledge will be measured using conventional tasks from cognitive development to measure numerical estimation: the approximate number system (ANS), using Panamath; counting, using Give-A-Number; number sense and partitioning using Number Sets; and the Number-Line Tasks. These measures should provide evidence of properties of numerical cognition in the exact interpretation of natural language quantifiers and enable the investigators to model how language and number interact, mediated by executive function.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.