Operational momentum during ordering operations for size and number in 4-month-old infants
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Macchi Cassia, Viola
Bulf, Hermann
McCrink, Koleen
de Hevia, Maria Dolores
Abstract / Description
An Operational Momentum (OM) effect is shown by 9-month-old infants during non-symbolic arithmetic, whereby they overestimate the outcomes to addition problems, and underestimate the outcomes to subtraction problems. Recent evidence has shown that this effect extends to ordering operations for size-based sequences in 12-month-olds. Here we provide evidence that OM occurs for ordering operations involving numerical sequences containing multiple quantity cues, but not size-based sequences, already at 4 months of age. Infants were tested in an ordinal task in which they detected and represented increasing or decreasing variations in physical and/or numerical size, and then responded to ordinal sequences that exhibited greater or lesser sizes/numerosities, thus following or violating the OM generated during habituation. Results showed that OM was absent during size ordering (Experiment 1), but was present when infants ordered arrays of discrete elements varying on numerical and non-numerical dimensions, if both number and continuous magnitudes were available cues to discriminate between with-OM and against-OM sequences during test trials (Experiments 2 vs. 3). The presence of momentum for ordering number only when provided with multiple cues of magnitude changes suggests that OM is a complex phenomenon that blends multiple representations of magnitude early in infancy.
Keyword(s)
Operational Momentum ordering operations size number infants number-space mappingPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2017-12-22
Journal title
Journal of Numerical Cognition
Volume
3
Issue
2
Page numbers
270–287
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Macchi Cassia, V., Bulf, H., McCrink, K., & de Hevia, M. D. (2017). Operational momentum during ordering operations for size and number in 4-month-old infants. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 3(2), 270–287. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v3i2.67
-
jnc.v3i2.67.pdfAdobe PDF - 673.93KBMD5: 6e70694e07a1863930f1f6f1f16d6d0a
-
There are no other versions of this object.
-
Author(s) / Creator(s)Macchi Cassia, Viola
-
Author(s) / Creator(s)Bulf, Hermann
-
Author(s) / Creator(s)McCrink, Koleen
-
Author(s) / Creator(s)de Hevia, Maria Dolores
-
PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-21T11:42:48Z
-
Made available on2018-11-21T11:42:48Z
-
Date of first publication2017-12-22
-
Abstract / DescriptionAn Operational Momentum (OM) effect is shown by 9-month-old infants during non-symbolic arithmetic, whereby they overestimate the outcomes to addition problems, and underestimate the outcomes to subtraction problems. Recent evidence has shown that this effect extends to ordering operations for size-based sequences in 12-month-olds. Here we provide evidence that OM occurs for ordering operations involving numerical sequences containing multiple quantity cues, but not size-based sequences, already at 4 months of age. Infants were tested in an ordinal task in which they detected and represented increasing or decreasing variations in physical and/or numerical size, and then responded to ordinal sequences that exhibited greater or lesser sizes/numerosities, thus following or violating the OM generated during habituation. Results showed that OM was absent during size ordering (Experiment 1), but was present when infants ordered arrays of discrete elements varying on numerical and non-numerical dimensions, if both number and continuous magnitudes were available cues to discriminate between with-OM and against-OM sequences during test trials (Experiments 2 vs. 3). The presence of momentum for ordering number only when provided with multiple cues of magnitude changes suggests that OM is a complex phenomenon that blends multiple representations of magnitude early in infancy.en_US
-
Publication statuspublishedVersion
-
Review statuspeerReviewed
-
CitationMacchi Cassia, V., Bulf, H., McCrink, K., & de Hevia, M. D. (2017). Operational momentum during ordering operations for size and number in 4-month-old infants. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 3(2), 270–287. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v3i2.67en_US
-
ISSN2363-8761
-
Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1269
-
Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1461
-
Language of contenteng
-
PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
-
Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v3i2.67
-
Keyword(s)Operational Momentumen_US
-
Keyword(s)ordering operationsen_US
-
Keyword(s)sizeen_US
-
Keyword(s)numberen_US
-
Keyword(s)infantsen_US
-
Keyword(s)number-space mappingen_US
-
Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
-
TitleOperational momentum during ordering operations for size and number in 4-month-old infantsen_US
-
DRO typearticle
-
Issue2
-
Journal titleJournal of Numerical Cognition
-
Page numbers270–287
-
Volume3
-
Visible tag(s)Version of Record