Developmental changes of the impact of visual cues on ANS acuity across grades 1-5: Different patterns of visual cues on numerosity processing

TL;DR

This study explores how visual cues affect children's number sense from grades 1 to 5, finding distinct developmental patterns and separate systems for numerical and non-numerical processing.

Contribution

The study reveals distinct developmental stages and dual systems for numerical and non-numerical cues in children's number sense.

Findings

Development shows a leap from grades 1 to 3 and 1 to 5, but not from 3 to 5.

Visual cues only help older children when numerical cues are weak.

Two distinct magnitude systems exist during development.

Abstract

Numerous studies have consistently demonstrated the presence of the approximate number system (ANS) throughout development. Research has also revealed that visual cues may influence the ANS acuity, which may change with age. However, most studies have drawn conclusions based on performance differences between incongruent and congruent trials, which may be confounded by an individual's ability to inhibit interference. Therefore, to examine the developmental changes of the impact of visual cues on ANS acuity, we utilized congruent trials with varying visual cues. Our sample comprised Chinese children from grade one to grade five. We manipulated the salience of numerical cues (numerical ratio) and visual cues (dot size) in a non-symbolic numerosity comparison task. The results revealed a discernible leap in development from first to third grade and first to fifth grade; however, this upward trajectory did not persist into the transition from third to fifth grade, where no appreciable advancement was observed. Moreover, we observed different effects of visual cues on the dot-comparison task depending on the numerical cues and age. Specifically, visual cues (i.e., dot size) only facilitated ANS acuity in older school-aged children when numerical cues were weakened. The results indicate the presence of two distinct magnitude representational systems—one for the numerical dimension and another for the non-numerical dimension—during development.

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