The importance of spatial language for early numerical development in preschool: Going beyond verbal number skills.

Recent evidence suggests that spatial language in preschool positively affects the development of verbal number skills, as indexed by aggregated performances on counting and number naming tasks. We firstly aimed to specify whether spatial language (the knowledge of locative prepositions) significantly relates to both of these measures. In addition, we assessed whether the predictive value of spatial language extends beyond verbal number skills to numerical subdomains without explicit verbal component, such as number writing, symbolic magnitude classifications, ordinal judgments and numerosity comparisons.

Learning mathematics with shackles: How lower reading comprehension in the language of mathematics instruction accounts for lower mathematics achievement in speakers of different home languages.

Achievement in mathematics has been shown to partially depend on verbal skills. In multilingual educational settings, varying language proficiencies might therefore contribute to differences in mathematics achievement. We explored the relationship between mathematics achievement and language competency in terms of home language and instruction language proficiency in the highly multilingual society of Luxembourg.

Automatic integration of numerical formats examined with frequency-tagged EEG.

How humans integrate and abstract numerical information across different formats is one of the most debated questions in human cognition. We addressed the neuronal signatures of the numerical integration using an EEG technique tagged at the frequency of visual stimulation. In an oddball design, participants were stimulated with standard sequences of numbers (< 5) depicted in single (digits, dots, number words) or mixed notation (dots-digits, number words-dots, digits-number words), presented at 10 Hz.

A robust electrophysiological marker of spontaneous numerical discrimination.

Humans have a Number Sense that enables them to represent and manipulate numerical quantities. Behavioral data suggest that the acuity of numerical discrimination is predictively associated with math ability-especially in children-but some authors argued that its assessment is problematic. In the present study, we used frequency-tagged electroencephalography to objectively measure spontaneous numerical discrimination during passive viewing of dot or picture arrays in healthy adults.

The importance of visuospatial abilities for verbal number skills in preschool: Adding spatial language to the equation.

Children's verbal number skills set the foundation for mathematical development. Therefore, it is central to understand their cognitive origins. Evidence suggests that preschool children rely on visuospatial abilities when solving counting and number naming tasks despite their predominantly verbal nature.

Implicit and Explicit Number-Space Associations Differentially Relate to Interference Control in Young Adults With ADHD.

Behavioral evidence for the link between numerical and spatial representations comes from the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect, consisting in faster reaction times to small/large numbers with the left/right hand respectively. The SNARC effect is, however, characterized by considerable intra- and inter-individual variability. It depends not only on the explicit or implicit nature of the numerical task, but also relates to interference control.

Developmental Changes in the Effect of Active Left and Right Head Rotation on Random Number Generation.

Numbers are thought to be spatially organized along a left-to-right horizontal axis with small/large numbers on its left/right respectively. Behavioral evidence for this mental number line (MNL) comes from studies showing that the reallocation of spatial attention by active left/right head rotation facilitated the generation of small/large numbers respectively. While spatial biases in random number generation (RNG) during active movement are well established in adults, comparable evidence in children is lacking and it remains unclear whether and how children's access to the MNL is affected by active head rotation.

Mathematical abilities in elementary school: Do they relate to number-space associations?

Considering the importance of mathematics in Western societies, it is crucial to understand the cognitive processes involved in the acquisition of more complex mathematical skills. The current study, therefore, investigated how the quality of number-space mappings on the mental number line, as indexed by the parity SNARC (spatial-numerical association of response codes) effect, relates to mathematical performances in third- and fourth-grade elementary school children. Mathematical competencies were determined using the "Heidelberger Rechentest," a standardized German math test assessing both arithmetical and visuospatial math components.

How Math Anxiety Relates to Number-Space Associations.

Given the considerable prevalence of math anxiety, it is important to identify the factors contributing to it in order to improve mathematical learning. Research on math anxiety typically focusses on the effects of more complex arithmetic skills. Recent evidence, however, suggests that deficits in basic numerical processing and spatial skills also constitute potential risk factors of math anxiety.

Task instructions determine the visuospatial and verbal-spatial nature of number-space associations.

Evidence for number-space associations comes from the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect, consisting in faster reaction times to small/large digits with the left/right hand, respectively. Two different proposals are commonly discussed concerning the cognitive origin of the SNARC effect: the visuospatial account and the verbal-spatial account. Recent studies have provided evidence for the relative dominance of verbal-spatial over visuospatial coding mechanisms, when both mechanisms were directly contrasted in a magnitude comparison task.