2-194 - Number Development: Insights from Cardinal Number Gestures

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Children struggle to learn the meanings of number words (one, two, three, etc.), with children and parents sometimes relying on number gestures (e.g. holding up three fingers) to convey numerical information. Such gestures are common across cultures (even cultures without a verbal count list) and have been linked to the historical development of number language. However, where cardinal number gestures fit into children’s acquisition of number language and what they can tell us about this process remain open questions.

Three presentations aim to identify what children know about number gestures and how they learn it in an effort to understand what gestures can tell us about number development. The first presentation builds on evidence that children have difficulty appreciating the one-to-one correspondence between fingers and quantities (i.e. the iconicity of number gestures). They find that using different configurations of fingers for the same number helps children appreciate this iconicity. The second presentation examines when children learn to recognize the form of number gestures and when children are able to accurately match number gestures to corresponding quantities relative to children’s ability to match number words to their appropriate quantities. The final presentation examines the use of number gestures amongst parents and children in their homes and finds that compared to number words, number gestures are surprisingly rare, providing important context for the findings of the previous two presentations. Finally, a discussant will highlight several ways in which these studies are particularly informative when considered together.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chair

• Dominic Gibson, The University of Chicago

Discussant

• Martha W Alibali, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Individual Presentations

• How Many Fingers am I Holding Up? The Answer Depends on Experience - Presenting Author: Elena Nicoladis, University of Alberta; Non-Presenting Author: Paula Marentette, University of Alberta-Augustana Campus

• Children’s Early Knowledge of Cardinal Number Gestures - Presenting Author: Dominic Gibson, The University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Jacob R. Butts, University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Talia Berkowitz, University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Susan Goldin-Meadow, University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Susan C. Levine, University of Chicago

• The Spontaneous Use of Cardinal Number Gestures - Presenting Author: Madeleine Oswald, University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Dominic Gibson, The University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Jacob R. Butts, University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Susan C. Levine, University of Chicago; Non-Presenting Author: Susan Goldin-Meadow, University of Chicago