TY - JOUR
T1 - The development of numerosity estimation
T2 - Evidence for a linear number representation early in life
AU - Stapel, Janny C.
AU - Hunnius, Sabine
AU - Bekkering, Harold
AU - Lindemann, Oliver
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Taylor and Francis.
PY - 2015/5/19
Y1 - 2015/5/19
N2 - Several studies investigating the development of approximate number representations used the number-to-position task and reported evidence for a shift from a logarithmic to a linear representation of numerical magnitude with increasing age. However, this interpretation as well as the number-to-position method itself has been questioned recently. The current study tested 5-and 8-year-old children on a newly established numerosity production task to examine developmental changes in number representations and to test the idea of a representational shift. Modelling of the children's numerical estimations revealed that responses of the 8-year-old children approximate a simple positive linear relation between estimated and actual numbers. Interestingly, however, the estimations of the 5-year-old children were best described by a bilinear model reflecting a relatively accurate linear representation of small numbers and no apparent magnitude knowledge for large numbers. Taken together, our findings provide no support for a shift of mental representations from a logarithmic to a linear metric but rather suggest that the range of number words which are appropriately conceptualised and represented by linear analogue magnitude codes expands during development.
AB - Several studies investigating the development of approximate number representations used the number-to-position task and reported evidence for a shift from a logarithmic to a linear representation of numerical magnitude with increasing age. However, this interpretation as well as the number-to-position method itself has been questioned recently. The current study tested 5-and 8-year-old children on a newly established numerosity production task to examine developmental changes in number representations and to test the idea of a representational shift. Modelling of the children's numerical estimations revealed that responses of the 8-year-old children approximate a simple positive linear relation between estimated and actual numbers. Interestingly, however, the estimations of the 5-year-old children were best described by a bilinear model reflecting a relatively accurate linear representation of small numbers and no apparent magnitude knowledge for large numbers. Taken together, our findings provide no support for a shift of mental representations from a logarithmic to a linear metric but rather suggest that the range of number words which are appropriately conceptualised and represented by linear analogue magnitude codes expands during development.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84928938552&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/20445911.2014.995668
DO - 10.1080/20445911.2014.995668
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84928938552
VL - 27
SP - 400
EP - 412
JO - Journal of Cognitive Psychology
JF - Journal of Cognitive Psychology
SN - 2044-5911
IS - 4
ER -