Learning Artificial Number Words: The Role of Contrast and Multiple Representations

• In Event: Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Topic - Cognitive Processes

Abstract

What is the best way to teach children the meaning of number words? Often parents and children engage with pictures in counting books, sets of everyday objects or other forms of activities that pair a number word with a visual representation. A typical example from a counting book would be to show two ducks on one page and three pigs on another, encouraging parents and children to label each set with the corresponding number word (Ward et al., 2017). The use of such multiple concrete representations might however be detrimental to children’s number learning. Using only a single abstract representation in all sets (e.g. two black dots and three black dots) might be more beneficial (Bennett, Inglis & Gilmore, 2019). We argue that single abstract representations might only be beneficial because the contrast between those sets highlights numerosity as the referent for number words. The only difference between two and three black dots is the numerosity of dots, which might help children learn that different number words refer to different numerosities. On the other hand, sets with multiple concrete representations (e.g. two ducks and three pigs) might distract from numerosity, because children more frequently attend to other properties of the set, such as shape or color (Chan & Mazzocco 2017; Mazzocco et al., 2020). We aim to examine to role of contrast by comparing the above described single abstract representations and multiple concrete representations to multiple concrete representations that also highlight numerosity through contrast between them (e.g. two ducks/ two pigs and three ducks/ three pigs). Our main question in this study is: What is the role of contrast and multiple representations for learning that number words refer to numerosity?
We designed a study that allows us a within-participant comparison of number word learning.
Participants learn artificial number words with sets of single abstract representations, multiple concrete representations that highlight numerosity through contrast and multiple concrete representations that don’t highlight numerosity through contrast. After each learning block, we use a card sorting task to measure what properties participants attribute to the artificial word they have learned. We preregistered to compare how many cards are sorted based on numerosity between the three types of representations with a repeated measures ANOVA.
At the date of this submission, we have just finished collecting data from 100 English-speaking adult participants. We are currently recruiting children between 4- and 12-years-old to participate in this study online. The data collection with children is due to be completed by December 2020. Preliminary analyses from the dataset of adult participants suggest that contrast between representations is more important than the use of a single abstract representation for learning that an artificial number word refers to numerosity. We will address whether these results replicate for children at various ages and report more detailed analyses at the conference.

Authors

• Theresa Elise Wege, Loughborough University
  Presenting Author

• Megan Foulkes
  Non-Presenting Author

• Camilla K Gilmore, Loughborough University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Matthew Inglis, Loughborough University
  Non-Presenting Author