The development of the mental representations of the magnitude of fractions.
We investigated the development of the mental representation of the magnitude of fractions during the initial stages of fraction learning in grade 5, 6 and 7 children as well as in adults. We examined the activation of global fraction magnitude in a numerical comparison task and a matching task. There were global distance effects in the comparison task, but not in the matching task. This suggests that the activation of the global magnitude representation of fractions is not automatic in all tasks involving magnitude judgments. The slope of the global distance effect increased during early fraction learning and declined by adulthood, demonstrating that the development of the fraction global distance effect differs from that of the integer distance effect.
Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom ; Laboratoire Cognition, Langage et Développement, Faculté des Sciences Psychologiques et de l'Education, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
Florence C
FC
Gabriel
Denes
D
Szucs
Alain
A
Content
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D011340:Problem Solving; D055815:Young Adult