You can count on your fingers: The role of fingers in early mathematical development
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Soylu, Firat
Lester, Frank K.
Newman, Sharlene D.
Abstract / Description
Even though mathematics is considered one of the most abstract domains of human cognition, recent work on embodiment of mathematics has shown that we make sense of mathematical concepts by using insights and skills acquired through bodily activity. Fingers play a significant role in many of these bodily interactions. Finger-based interactions provide the preliminary access to foundational mathematical constructs, such as one-to-one correspondence and whole-part relations in early development. In addition, children across cultures use their fingers to count and do simple arithmetic. There is also some evidence for an association between children’s ability to individuate fingers (finger gnosis) and mathematics ability. Paralleling these behavioral findings, there is accumulating evidence for overlapping neural correlates and functional associations between fingers and number processing. In this paper, we synthesize mathematics education and neurocognitive research on the relevance of fingers for early mathematics development. We delve into issues such as how the early multimodal (tactile, motor, visuospatial) experiences with fingers might be the gateway for later numerical skills, how finger gnosis, finger counting habits, and numerical abilities are associated at the behavioral and neural levels, and implications for mathematics education. We argue that, taken together, the two bodies of research can better inform how different finger skills support the development of numerical competencies, and we provide a road map for future interdisciplinary research that can yield to development of diagnostic tools and interventions for preschool and primary grade classrooms.
Keyword(s)
cognitive development numerical cognition finger counting finger gnosis embodied cognition neuroscience mathematics educationPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2018-06-07
Journal title
Journal of Numerical Cognition
Volume
4
Issue
1
Page numbers
107–135
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Soylu, F., Lester, F. K., & Newman, S. D. (2018). You can count on your fingers: The role of fingers in early mathematical development. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 4(1), 107–135. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v4i1.85
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jnc.v4i1.85.pdfAdobe PDF - 311.37KBMD5: 46e4dfb556dcbe0be05da0d3a570e0ae
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Soylu, Firat
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Lester, Frank K.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Newman, Sharlene D.
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-21T11:42:54Z
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Made available on2018-11-21T11:42:54Z
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Date of first publication2018-06-07
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Abstract / DescriptionEven though mathematics is considered one of the most abstract domains of human cognition, recent work on embodiment of mathematics has shown that we make sense of mathematical concepts by using insights and skills acquired through bodily activity. Fingers play a significant role in many of these bodily interactions. Finger-based interactions provide the preliminary access to foundational mathematical constructs, such as one-to-one correspondence and whole-part relations in early development. In addition, children across cultures use their fingers to count and do simple arithmetic. There is also some evidence for an association between children’s ability to individuate fingers (finger gnosis) and mathematics ability. Paralleling these behavioral findings, there is accumulating evidence for overlapping neural correlates and functional associations between fingers and number processing. In this paper, we synthesize mathematics education and neurocognitive research on the relevance of fingers for early mathematics development. We delve into issues such as how the early multimodal (tactile, motor, visuospatial) experiences with fingers might be the gateway for later numerical skills, how finger gnosis, finger counting habits, and numerical abilities are associated at the behavioral and neural levels, and implications for mathematics education. We argue that, taken together, the two bodies of research can better inform how different finger skills support the development of numerical competencies, and we provide a road map for future interdisciplinary research that can yield to development of diagnostic tools and interventions for preschool and primary grade classrooms.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationSoylu, F., Lester, F. K., & Newman, S. D. (2018). You can count on your fingers: The role of fingers in early mathematical development. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 4(1), 107–135. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v4i1.85en_US
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ISSN2363-8761
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1287
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1479
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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.v4i1.85
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Keyword(s)cognitive developmenten_US
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Keyword(s)numerical cognitionen_US
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Keyword(s)finger countingen_US
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Keyword(s)finger gnosisen_US
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Keyword(s)embodied cognitionen_US
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Keyword(s)neuroscienceen_US
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Keyword(s)mathematics educationen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleYou can count on your fingers: The role of fingers in early mathematical developmenten_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue1
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Journal titleJournal of Numerical Cognition
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Page numbers107–135
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Volume4
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record