Approximate number system discrimination training for 7-8 year olds improves approximate, but not exact, arithmetics, and only in children with low pre-training arithmetic scores
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Ferres-Forga, Nuria
Halberda, Justin
Abstract / Description
We investigated whether training the Approximate Number System (ANS) would transfer to improved arithmetic performance in 7-8 year olds compared to a control group. All children participated in Pre- and Post-Training assessments of exact symbolic arithmetic (additions and subtractions) and approximate symbolic arithmetic abilities (a novel test). During 3 weeks of training (approximately 25 minutes per day, two days per week), we found that children in the ANS Training group had stable individual differences in ANS efficiency and increased in ANS efficiency, both within and across the training days. We also found that individual differences in ANS efficiency were related to symbolic arithmetic performance. Regarding arithmetic performance, both the ANS training group and the control group improved in all tests (exact and approximate arithmetics tests). Thus, the ANS training did not show a specific effect on arithmetic performance. However, considering the initial arithmetic level of children, we found that the trained children showed a higher improvement on the novel approximate arithmetic test compared to the control group, but only for those children with a low pre-training arithmetic score. Nevertheless, this difference within the low pre-training arithmetic score level was not observed in the exact arithmetic test. The limited benefits observed in these results suggest that this type of ANS discrimination training, through quantity comparison tasks, may not have an impact on symbolic arithmetics overall, although we cautiously propose that it could help with approximate arithmetic abilities for children at this age with below-average arithmetic performance.
Keyword(s)
approximate number system early mathematics learning math in children math ability mathematics education number sense school mathematicsPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2020-12-03
Journal title
Journal of Numerical Cognition
Volume
6
Issue
3
Page numbers
275–303
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Ferres-Forga, N., & Halberda, J. (2020). Approximate number system discrimination training for 7-8 year olds improves approximate, but not exact, arithmetics, and only in children with low pre-training arithmetic scores. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 6(3), 275-303. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v6i3.277
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jnc.v6i3.277.pdfAdobe PDF - 1.35MBMD5: 61809d14de031185bc8230cce7641c1c
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Ferres-Forga, Nuria
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Halberda, Justin
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2022-04-14T11:21:51Z
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Made available on2022-04-14T11:21:51Z
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Date of first publication2020-12-03
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Abstract / DescriptionWe investigated whether training the Approximate Number System (ANS) would transfer to improved arithmetic performance in 7-8 year olds compared to a control group. All children participated in Pre- and Post-Training assessments of exact symbolic arithmetic (additions and subtractions) and approximate symbolic arithmetic abilities (a novel test). During 3 weeks of training (approximately 25 minutes per day, two days per week), we found that children in the ANS Training group had stable individual differences in ANS efficiency and increased in ANS efficiency, both within and across the training days. We also found that individual differences in ANS efficiency were related to symbolic arithmetic performance. Regarding arithmetic performance, both the ANS training group and the control group improved in all tests (exact and approximate arithmetics tests). Thus, the ANS training did not show a specific effect on arithmetic performance. However, considering the initial arithmetic level of children, we found that the trained children showed a higher improvement on the novel approximate arithmetic test compared to the control group, but only for those children with a low pre-training arithmetic score. Nevertheless, this difference within the low pre-training arithmetic score level was not observed in the exact arithmetic test. The limited benefits observed in these results suggest that this type of ANS discrimination training, through quantity comparison tasks, may not have an impact on symbolic arithmetics overall, although we cautiously propose that it could help with approximate arithmetic abilities for children at this age with below-average arithmetic performance.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationFerres-Forga, N., & Halberda, J. (2020). Approximate number system discrimination training for 7-8 year olds improves approximate, but not exact, arithmetics, and only in children with low pre-training arithmetic scores. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 6(3), 275-303. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v6i3.277en_US
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ISSN2363-8761
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/5483
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.6087
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v6i3.277
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Is related tohttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4351
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Keyword(s)approximate number systemen_US
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Keyword(s)early mathematicsen_US
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Keyword(s)learning math in childrenen_US
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Keyword(s)math abilityen_US
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Keyword(s)mathematics educationen_US
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Keyword(s)number senseen_US
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Keyword(s)school mathematicsen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleApproximate number system discrimination training for 7-8 year olds improves approximate, but not exact, arithmetics, and only in children with low pre-training arithmetic scoresen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue3
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Journal titleJournal of Numerical Cognition
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Page numbers275–303
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Volume6
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Visible tag(s)Version of Recorden_US