The emergence of cardinality and associated neural correlates.

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Given the increasing appreciation for mathematics in a global economy, with advancementsin technology (Sarama & Clements, 2009) there has been a resurgence in cardinality research, andhow best to teach this principle to establish skills and confidence in young children. This projectaims to bridge recent research on neural processes and mathematical reasoning withdevelopmental accounts of cardinality. 3The cardinality principle involves understanding that the final number in the countrepresents how many in total or the total number of items (Paliwal & Baroody, 2018). Cardinalproficiency underpins many symbolic mathematical abilities, is a key competency for children, and isa significant predictor of mathematical achievement (Chu, vanMarle & Geary, 2015; MontagueSmith & Price, 2012; Sarama & Clements, 2009). Research suggests acuity in the approximatenumber system (ANS) scaffolds acquisition of cardinality (Bugden, DeWind & Brannon, 2016; Chu etal., 2015). However, these studies measure ANS acuity and symbolic mathematical abilitysimultaneously, leading some to suggest the acquisition of cardinality improves ANS acuity (forreview see Raghubar & Barnes, 2017). Study one aims to elucidate the direction of this relationship,assessing ANS acuity at 12 months and cardinality at 42 months (see below for details of all studies).