Phonemic awareness as a pathway to number transcoding.
Although verbal and numerical abilities have a well-established interaction, the impact of phonological processing on numeric abilities remains elusive. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of phonemic awareness in number processing and to explore its association with other functions such as working memory and magnitude processing. One hundred seventy-two children in 2nd grade to 4th grade were evaluated in terms of their intelligence, number transcoding, phonemic awareness, verbal and visuospatial working memory and number sense (non-symbolic magnitude comparison) performance. All of the children had normal intelligence. Among these measurements of magnitude processing, working memory and phonemic awareness, only the last was retained in regression and path models predicting transcoding ability. Phonemic awareness mediated the influence of verbal working memory on number transcoding. The evidence suggests that phonemic awareness significantly affects number transcoding. Such an association is robust and should be considered in cognitive models of both dyslexia and dyscalculia.
Developmental Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, Brazil ; Programa de Pós-graduação em Saúde da Criança e do Adolescente, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Júlia B
JB
Lopes-Silva
Developmental Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, Brazil ; Programa de Pós-graduação em Neurociências, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Ricardo
R
Moura
Developmental Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, Brazil ; Programa de Pós-graduação em Neurociências, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Annelise
A
Júlio-Costa
Developmental Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, Brazil ; Programa de Pós-graduação em Saúde da Criança e do Adolescente, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, Brazil ; Programa de Pós-graduação em Neurociências, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Vitor G
VG
Haase
Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, Karl-Franzens-University of Graz Graz, Austria.
Guilherme
G
Wood
ADAPT; asemantic transcoding models; phonemic awareness; transcoding; verbal working memory