The approximate number system cannot be the leading factor in the acquisition of the first symbolic numbers

When learning the meaning of symbolic numbers, children learn the numbers up to 4 sequen-tially. A prominent account of this learning process proposes that the increasing sensitivity of the preverbal approximate number system (ANS) allows for reliable discrimination of increasingly large neighboring numbers, which, consequently, leads to the sequential acquisition of the first symbolic numbers. In this work, a more complete quantitative description of this account is provided. This description is based on the mathematical model of the ANS and on additional relevant parameter values reported in the literature. The quantitative description demonstrates that, in the time period during which children learn the meaning of the first number words, the improvement of ANS sensitivity cannot provide the assumed changes in the discriminability of these numbers. The present result challenges the role of the ANS as a leading factor in the acquisition of the first symbolic numbers

The role of Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) as sensitive measures in L2 vocabulary acquisition research

Neurocognitive measures have only scarcely been used in second language (L2) vocabulary research. Traditionally, L2 vocabulary knowledge has been gauged by using off-line measures that allow for conscious thinking and attentional control. Yet, it has been argued that more research is warranted on the role of measures that have the sensitivity to tap into on-line lexical processing. Recording Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) may be an effective technique in order to refine our understanding of L2 vocabulary knowledge. In the current article, we provide a comprehensive review of the relevant literature in order to examine the extent to which ERP research may be valuable to L2 vocabulary research. This review focuses on the potential of ERPs to address the multifaceted nature of vocabulary knowledge. It also examines the role of ERPs to elucidate the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the incremental nature of L2 vocabulary learning. Finally, this paper discusses the extent to which ERPs might contribute to understanding factors that affect L2 vocabulary learning

Can You Trust Your Number Sense: Distinct Processing of Numbers and Quantities in Elementary School Children

Theories of number development have traditionally argued that the acquisition and discrimination of symbolic numbers (i.e., number words and digits) are grounded in and are continuously supported by the Approximate Number System (ANS)—an evolutionarily ancient system for number. In the current study, we challenge this claim by investigating whether the ANS continues to support the symbolic number processing throughout development. To this end, we tested 87 first- (Age M = 6.54 years, SD = 0.58), third- (Age M = 8.55 years, SD = 0.60) and fifth-graders (Age M = 10.63 years, SD = 0.67) on four audio-visual comparison tasks (1) Number words–Digits, (2) Tones–Dots,(3) Number words–Dots, (4) Tones–Digits, while varying the Number Range (Small and Large), and the Numerical Ratio (Easy, Medium,and Hard). Results showed that larger and faster developmental growth in the performance was observed in the Number Words–Digits task, while the tasks containing at least one non-symbolic quantity showed smaller and slower developmental change. In addition, the Ratio effect (i.e., the signature of ANS being addressed) was present in the Tones–Dots, Tones–Digits, and Number Words–Dots tasks, but was absent in the Number Words–Digits task. These findings suggest that it is unlikely that the ANS continuously underlines the acquisition and the discrimination of the symbolic numbers. Rather, our results indicate that non-symbolic quantities and symbolic numbers follow qualitatively distinct developmental paths, and argue that the latter ones are processed in a semantic network which starts to emerge from an early age

Cross-notation number priming investigated at different stimulus onset asynchronies in parity and naming tasks

Abstract. In this paper, a parity judgment task and a number naming task were used to investigate cross-notational number priming. Primes and targets could be verbal (e.g., seven) or Arabic numbers (e.g., 7), and were always presented in a different notation within the same trial (either a verbal prime and an Arabic target or an Arabic prime and a verbal target). Previous experiments showed that response latencies increase when the distance between prime and target increases (for example, in a naming task, seven is pronounced faster after 6 than after 5). This semantic distance priming effect was the same for Arabic and verbal targets and was the same for within-notation trials as for cross-notation trials. In the present experiments, we wanted to investigate whether the cross-notational priming effect also occurs at SOAs shorter than the ones used in previous experiments. Therefore, we used SOAs of 43, 57, 86, and 115 ms. Semantic distance effects were indeed present at these shorter SOAs: Processing times in the semantic parity judgment task and in the non-semantic naming task increased when the distance between prime and target increased. The results are discussed and integrated within an interactive dual-route model of number processing that postulates that the impact of the semantic and the nonsemantic route depends on the task and the notation of the stimuli. Key words: number processing, priming, stimulus onset asynchrony Research with the semantic priming paradigm goes back a long way and has revealed many insights in the processing of different kinds of stimuli. In the semantic priming paradigm, two stimuli are presented shortly after each other and the processing time of the second stimulus (target) is analysed as a function of the first stimulus (prime). The paradigm was used first in the language literature in which it was found that a target word (e.g., doctor) was processed faster after a related prime word (e.g., nurse) than after an unrelated prime wor

Automatic number priming effects in adults with and without mathematical learning disabilities

This study examined automatic number processing in adults with mathematical learning disabilities (MLDs). The performance of adults with MLD during an automatic symbolic and non-symbolic priming task was compared to gender-, age-, and IQ-matched controls. No difference in the priming distance effect was found between the adults with and without MLD, suggesting that adults with MLD have an intact magnitude representation. Moreover, the adults with MLD did not have problems in processing the numerical symbols 1-9, suggesting that this basic deficit which is experienced by children with MLD is resolved by adulthood