3-231 - The Dynamics of Number Representation: Conceptual, Strategic, and Developmental Change in a Numerical Context

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

In this symposium, we examine the dynamic and variable nature of numerical representations. The first presentation emphasizes the role of individual differences and a child’s conceptual development on number processing, using ERP and behavioral techniques with preschoolers to show that children’s spontaneous processing of different types of number information may drive successful behavior in different types of sophisticated behavioral tasks, such as precise counting. The second presentation examines how children transitioning from toddlerhood to the preschool years eventually develop a one-to-one mapping strategy that allows them to define the important class of “natural numbers”, or large precise amounts. The third presentation also looks at strategy change in numerical representations, here in an implicit fashion; young children and adults were asked to assign numbers to a position on a line, with an eye towards initial responses and how responses shifted as the experiment continued. Adults and children showed similar spatial-numerical mapping biases at the experiment’s start, but adults were more likely to adapt to the task at hand by using their previous responses to guide future behavior. The final presentation also finds a developmental shift in implicit strategy use of spatial-numerical mappings; younger children are more likely than older children to remember spatial locations when numerical arrays were embedded in them, and if they appeared from left-to-right, suggesting a higher dependency on familiar spatial-numerical mappings to scaffold memory. These presentations provide insight as to how conceptual and strategic change drives the development of early representations of number.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• Koleen McCrink, Barnard College

Individual Presentations

• Neural Signatures Reveal Distinct Contributions of Two Core Systems to Early Numerical Development in Young Children - Presenting Author: Daniel Hyde, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

• Towards Exact Number: Understanding that One-to-One Correspondence Tracks Exact Numerical Equality - Presenting Author: veronique izard, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Elizabeth Spelke, Harvard Univ

• Separating Dynamics from Development in Numerosity Estimation - Presenting Author: John E Opfer, The Ohio State University; Dan Kim, The Ohio State University

• Spatial-Numerical Flow and Memory in Young Children - Presenting Author: Koleen McCrink, Barnard College