title: Symbolic number abilities predict later approximate number system acuity in preschool children.
abstract: An ongoing debate in research on numerical cognition concerns the extent to which the approximate number system and symbolic number knowledge influence each other during development. The current study aims at establishing the direction of the developmental association between these two kinds of abilities at an early age. Fifty-seven children of 3-4 years performed two assessments at 7 months interval. In each assessment, children's precision in discriminating numerosities as well as their capacity to manipulate number words and Arabic digits was measured. By comparing relationships between pairs of measures across the two time points, we were able to assess the predictive direction of the link. Our data indicate that both cardinality proficiency and symbolic number knowledge predict later accuracy in numerosity comparison whereas the reverse links are not significant. The present findings are the first to provide longitudinal evidence that the early acquisition of symbolic numbers is an important precursor in the developmental refinement of the approximate number representation system.
authors.affiliation: Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, Laboratory Cognition Language Development, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mussolin
authors.affiliation: Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, Laboratory Cognition Language Development, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nys
authors.affiliation: Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, Laboratory Cognition Language Development, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Content
authors.affiliation: Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, Laboratory Cognition Language Development, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leybaert
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D008962:Models, Theoretical