The development of numerosity estimation: Evidence for a linear number representation early in life |
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Authors: | Janny C Stapel Sabine Hunnius Harold Bekkering Oliver Lindemann |
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Institution: | 1. Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlandsj.c.stapel@donders.ru.nl;3. Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands;4. Department Psychologie, Universit?t Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany |
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Abstract: | Several studies investigating the development of approximate number representations used the number-to-position task and reported evidence for a shift from a logarithmic to a linear representation of numerical magnitude with increasing age. However, this interpretation as well as the number-to-position method itself has been questioned recently. The current study tested 5- and 8-year-old children on a newly established numerosity production task to examine developmental changes in number representations and to test the idea of a representational shift. Modelling of the children's numerical estimations revealed that responses of the 8-year-old children approximate a simple positive linear relation between estimated and actual numbers. Interestingly, however, the estimations of the 5-year-old children were best described by a bilinear model reflecting a relatively accurate linear representation of small numbers and no apparent magnitude knowledge for large numbers. Taken together, our findings provide no support for a shift of mental representations from a logarithmic to a linear metric but rather suggest that the range of number words which are appropriately conceptualised and represented by linear analogue magnitude codes expands during development. |
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Keywords: | Bilinear models Development Number cognition Number representation Numerical estimation |
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