title: Inference and association in children's early numerical estimation.
abstract: How do children map number words to the numerical magnitudes they represent? Recent work in adults has shown that two distinct mechanisms-structure mapping and associative mapping-connect number words to nonlinguistic numerical representations (Sullivan & Barner, ). This study investigated the development of number word mappings, and the roles of inference and association in children's estimation. Fifty-eight 5- to 7-year-olds participated, and results showed that at both ages, children possess strong item-based associative mappings for numbers up to around six, but rely primarily on structure mapping-an inferential process-for larger quantities. These findings suggest that children rely primarily on an inferential mechanism to construct and deploy mappings between number words and large approximate magnitudes.
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Diego.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barner
mesh_terms: D001244:Association; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*