Article Version of Record

Developmental continuity in the link between sensitivity to numerosity and physical size

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Starr, Ariel
Brannon, Elizabeth M.

Abstract / Description

Converging evidence suggests that representations of number, space, and other dimensions depend on a general representation of magnitude. However, it is unclear whether there exists a privileged relation between certain magnitude dimensions or if all continuous magnitudes are equivalently related. Four-year-old children and adults were tested with three magnitude comparison tasks – nonsymbolic number, line length, and luminance – to determine whether individual differences in sensitivity are stable across dimensions. A Weber fraction (w) was calculated for each participant in each stimulus dimension. For both children and adults, accuracy and w values for number and line length comparison were significantly correlated, whereas neither accuracy nor w was correlated for number and luminance comparison. However, although line length and luminance comparison performance were not correlated in children, there was a significant relation in adults. These results suggest that there is a privileged relation between number and line length that emerges early in development and that relations between other magnitude dimensions may be later constructed over the course of development.

Keyword(s)

general magnitude representations numerical cognition approximate magnitude system analog magnitude representations

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2015-10-29

Journal title

Journal of Numerical Cognition

Volume

1

Issue

1

Page numbers

7–20

Publisher

PsychOpen GOLD

Publication status

publishedVersion

Review status

peerReviewed

Is version of

Citation

Starr, A., & Brannon, E. M. (2015). Developmental continuity in the link between sensitivity to numerosity and physical size. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 1(1), 7–20. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v1i1.2
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Starr, Ariel
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Brannon, Elizabeth M.
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2018-11-21T11:42:37Z
  • Made available on
    2018-11-21T11:42:37Z
  • Date of first publication
    2015-10-29
  • Abstract / Description
    Converging evidence suggests that representations of number, space, and other dimensions depend on a general representation of magnitude. However, it is unclear whether there exists a privileged relation between certain magnitude dimensions or if all continuous magnitudes are equivalently related. Four-year-old children and adults were tested with three magnitude comparison tasks – nonsymbolic number, line length, and luminance – to determine whether individual differences in sensitivity are stable across dimensions. A Weber fraction (w) was calculated for each participant in each stimulus dimension. For both children and adults, accuracy and w values for number and line length comparison were significantly correlated, whereas neither accuracy nor w was correlated for number and luminance comparison. However, although line length and luminance comparison performance were not correlated in children, there was a significant relation in adults. These results suggest that there is a privileged relation between number and line length that emerges early in development and that relations between other magnitude dimensions may be later constructed over the course of development.
    en_US
  • Publication status
    publishedVersion
  • Review status
    peerReviewed
  • Citation
    Starr, A., & Brannon, E. M. (2015). Developmental continuity in the link between sensitivity to numerosity and physical size. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 1(1), 7–20. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v1i1.2
    en_US
  • ISSN
    2363-8761
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1228
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1420
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychOpen GOLD
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v1i1.2
  • Keyword(s)
    general magnitude representations
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    numerical cognition
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    approximate magnitude system
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    analog magnitude representations
    en_US
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Developmental continuity in the link between sensitivity to numerosity and physical size
    en_US
  • DRO type
    article
  • Issue
    1
  • Journal title
    Journal of Numerical Cognition
  • Page numbers
    7–20
  • Volume
    1
  • Visible tag(s)
    Version of Record