Poster #18 - Interpreting Numbers in Context: Contributions of Number Knowledge and EF Skills

• In Event: Poster Session 17

Abstract

Language and EF skills play a role in mathematics (Purpura & Ganley, 2014), such as when mapping number words onto magnitudes. Understanding number words may therefore reflect an important intersection of math and other cognitive skills (e.g., Chan, Sera, & Mazzocco, 2022). As children’s numerical knowledge develops, they must decipher number words in various contexts. For example, numbers may reference sets of tangible or intangible objects (books or songs, respectively) or actions (claps); continuous quantities (length or volume), or may be paired with combinatorial words (four bags of apples). This complexity may lead to early misattributions of magnitude, such as inferring that measurement attributives (“two-pound apples”) denote cardinality (“two apples”; Syrett, 2013).
Given these complexities in early number word interpretation, we used a novel story-based task, the Numerical Ambiguity Interpretation Task (NAIT), to examine how children interpret numbers in ambiguous contexts and if their susceptibility to “literal” numerical interpretations reflects contributions of numerical, linguistic, or EF skills. We asked children (Grades Kindergarten to 2) to select which of two story characters had more items. On ambiguous trials, the magnitude comparison involved enumerating either sets of individual items or containers; e.g., 4 pears, 2 boxes of pears. When children chose the set paired with the larger number word (4 pears) as “more” even if illustrations or story context supported that the smaller word (2 boxes of pears) referenced the more numerous set, we classified their responses as “Large Number Word Bias” (LNWB) responses.
To gain a deeper understanding of the relation between LNWB responses and early math, and to see if other cognitive skills contribute to that relation, we used sequential regression analyses to explore Time 1 LNWB responses as predictors of math ability concurrently and, separately, one year later, controlling for grade, gender, and parent education, as well as measures of vocabulary and EF as additional Time 1 predictors. We found that LNWB responses were related to concurrent but not later math ability. Specifically, LNWB responses accounted for variation in concurrent math only as a sole predictor or when controlling for receptive vocabulary. Neither skill predicted concurrent math when EF skills were added to the regression model, suggesting that LNWB responses may be a manifestation of early association between EF skills and number word processing. None of the predictors accounted for variation in math at Time 2 when controlling for math at Time 1. Thus, in the early school years, EF may have a more prominent role in number processing than predicting future math. Our findings also suggest that EF skills may contribute to children’s increasing ability to resolve ambiguity in numerical contexts over the early school years, and that the decrease in LNWB response rates over time may reflect developmental differences in children’s number word concepts. We will continue to explore these relations using additional cognitive measures from this longitudinal study to better delineate the development and significance of children’s number word interpretation in context.

Authors

• Sarah Elizabeth Pan, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Presenting Author

• Michele Mazzocco, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities