Language counts: Early language mediates the relationship between parent education and children\u27s math ability

Children\u27s early math skills have been hailed as a powerful predictor of academic success. Disparities in socioeconomic context, however, also have dramatic consequences on children\u27s learning. It is therefore critical to investigate both of these distinct contributors in order to better understand the early foundations of children\u27s academic outcomes. This study tests an integrated model of children\u27s developing math ability so as to (1) identify the specific skills and abilities most clearly linked to early math achievement and (2) measure the influence of children\u27s socioeconomic context on each of these skills. We first evaluated the early vocabulary, number word knowledge (knower level), and Approximate Number System (ANS) acuity of a diverse group of preschoolers. Then, approximately 1 year later as they entered Kindergarten, we administered a test of early math achievement. We find that children\u27s early language (general vocabulary and number word knowledge) fully mediates the relationship between parent education and math ability. Additionally, number word knowledge mediates the relationship between ANS acuity and early math. We argue that increased focus on number word knowledge, as well as general vocabulary, may help to minimize disparities in math ability as children enter kindergarten. We also highlight the role of parent education on children\u27s learning and note that this may be an important locus for intervention

Cognitive Effects of Language on Human Navigation

Language has been linked to spatial representation and behavior in humans, but the nature of this effect is debated. Here, we test whether simple verbal expressions improve 4-year-old children’s performance in a disoriented search task in a small rectangular room with a single red landmark wall. Disoriented children’s landmark-guided search for a hidden object was dramatically enhanced when the experimenter used certain verbal expressions to designate the landmark during the hiding event. Both a spatial expression (“I’m hiding the sticker at the red/white wall”) and a non-spatial but task-relevant expression (“The red/white wall can help you get the sticker”) enhanced children’s search, relative to uncued controls. By contrast, a verbal expression that drew attention to the landmark in a task-irrelevant manner (“Look at this pretty red/white wall”) produced no such enhancement. These findings provide further evidence that language changes spatial behavior in children and illuminate one mechanism through which language exerts its effect: by helping children understand the relevance of landmarks for encoding locations.Psycholog

Continuity and discontinuity in children's number acquisition

Recent research has suggested that some children, after they learn the meaning of "four," proceed to learn the next few numbers one at a time (Krajcsi & Fintor, 2023). This claim is in direct contrast with previous theories that argued for an inductive leap after learning "four" (Carey, 2009). We assessed children's number knowledge using an adapted Give-N method that captured higher set sizes, and tests of executive function and working memory as an exploratory window onto the changes across stages. First, results support the claim that children exhibit partial-number knowledge beyond "four". Second, executive function was associated with children's jump from knowing numbers up to "four" (subset-knower stages) to knowing numbers above four, while working memory was associated with the change from partial to putatively full knowledge of number word meanings. These findings offer new insight into the conceptual change process and suggest a potential two-fold sequence in children's induction of cardinality

A 6-month longitudinal study on numerical estimation in preschoolers

The current study investigated the development of numerical estimation in 3- to 5-year-old children sampled monthly for six months. At each session, children completed a task that assesses verbal number knowledge (Give-N task) and a numerical estimation task that assesses approximate number knowledge (Fast Cards). Results showed that children who acquired the cardinal principle (CP) during the course of the study showed marked improvement on the estimation task. Following CP acquisition, estimation became more accurate overall but also fluctuated widely. We discuss the implications of our findings for number word learning, particularly the mapping between verbal number and the approximate number system (ANS)

Neutrophil extracellular traps are associated with poor response to neoadjuvant therapy and poor survival in pediatric osteosarcoma

PurposeOsteosarcoma (OS), the most common primary bone malignancy in childhood poses a therapeutic challenge despite extensive research. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) play a role in the tumor microenvironment (TME) in a variety of cancers, but their role in OS has not been characterized.Experimental DesignThis retrospective cohort study aimed to investigate immune cell infiltration and NETs formation in patients with OS and its association with chemotherapy response and overall survival using immunofluorescence of paraffin-embedded tissue samples.ResultsAs compared to the non-malignant bone tumor Osteoblastoma, OS samples were characterized by a higher proportion of neutrophils exhibiting NETs. High NETs formation on initial diagnostic biopsies, but not Neutrophil to Lymphocyte ratio, the number of tumor-infiltrating neutrophils, CD3+ T-cells or CD8+ T-cells, was associated with poor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The NETs burden in diagnostic biopsies was also correlated with survival: patients with high NETs burden had a mean overall survival of 53.7 months, as compared with 71.5 months for patients with low NETs. Furthermore, metastatic sites exhibited elevated NETs formation compared to primary tumors, and sera from patients with OS induced NETs release in healthy neutrophils, while sera from healthy controls did not.ConclusionsThese data highlight the potential role of NETs in OS’s TME biology, and suggest that NETs released by tumor infiltrating neutrophils can serve as an independent prognostic factor for poor response to neoadjuvant therapy and overall survival in patients with OS. Such insights may inform the development of tailored treatment approaches in OS

The Role of Visual Cues in the Development of Reorientation in Children

Replication of Reorientation Studies: Effects of Visual Cues on Children's Reorientatio

Numerical cognition needs more and better distinctions, not fewer

We agree that the ANS truly represents number. We endorse the authors’ conclusions on the arguments from confounds, congruency, and imprecision, though we disagree with many claims along the way. Here we discuss some complications with the meanings that undergird theories in numerical cognition, and with the language we use to communicate those theories

Numerical cognition needs more and better distinctions, not fewer

Abstract We agree that the approximate number system (ANS) truly represents number. We endorse the authors' conclusions on the arguments from confounds, congruency, and imprecision, although we disagree with many claims along the way. Here, we discuss some complications with the meanings that undergird theories in numerical cognition, and with the language we use to communicate those theories.</jats:p