Do preschool children use spatial coding for serial order in working memory: a replication study

Poster (2023, June 06)

The ordinal position effect (OPE) refers to the tendency to categorize items from the beginning/end of a memorized sequence with left/right-sided responses, respectively. It is considered as evidence that ... [more ▼]

The ordinal position effect (OPE) refers to the tendency to categorize items from the beginning/end of a memorized sequence with left/right-sided responses, respectively. It is considered as evidence that serial order in WM relies on spatial coding mechanisms. The effect has been well replicated in adults, where it is shown to depend on reading direction. Conversely, so far, only one study (van Dijck, Abrahamse, & Fias, 2020) has assessed the OPE in preliterate children. They found that even though the effect was not significant at the group level, about one third of the children already associated serial order with space, yet with no uniform direction. In the present study, we aimed to replicate these findings in 156 preschool children (mean age: 6.4 years). No systematic spatial coding was observed at the group level. However, individual analysis showed a reliable OPE in 34% of the children. Among those, 58.5% coded from right-to-left while 41.5% were left-to-right mappers. Our findings are thus in line with the results of van Dijck et al. (2020) and support their conclusions that spatial coding of serial order in WM does not depend on the ability to read and write but is likely calibrated by it. [less ▲]

Number-space associations in preschool: What is their prevalence and how do they relate to pre-mathematical and spatial abilities?

Scientific Conference (2023, May 22)

The mental association between numbers and space, as evidenced by the SNARC effect, has been intensively studied over the last 30 years. Nonetheless, its prevalence and functional role in mathematical and ... [more ▼]

The mental association between numbers and space, as evidenced by the SNARC effect, has been intensively studied over the last 30 years. Nonetheless, its prevalence and functional role in mathematical and spatial abilities remains unclear, especially in children. Therefore, we aimed to determine (1) the prevalence of preschool children (n=136, mean age=6.3 years) with consistent SNARC effects and (2) the relationship of the SNARC effect with pre-mathematical and spatial abilities. Children completed a magnitude judgment task to index their SNARC effects as well as 7 numerical and 3 spatial tasks, reduced into two respective factors using principle component analyses. Based on the methodology by Cipora et al., (2019), the consistency of the SNARC effect at the individual level was measured using bootstrapping. The results revealed that 37% and 19% of the children revealed consistent number-space associations in a left-to-right and right-to-left fashion, respectively. The remaining 44% did not show consistent spatial-numerical mappings. One-way ANOVAs revealed no significant effects of SNARC consistency (left-to-right consistent, right-to-left consistent, inconsistent) on either the numerical or spatial factor. Our results thus suggest that although spatially oriented symbolic numerical representations emerge at an early developmental stage, children do not (yet) rely on these associations when performing numerical and spatial tasks. [less ▲]

Categorical consistency facilitates implicit learning of color-number associations

in PLoS ONE (2023)

In making sense of the environment, we implicitly learn to associate stimulus attributes that frequently occur together. Is such learning favored for categories over individual items? Here, we introduce a ... [more ▼]

In making sense of the environment, we implicitly learn to associate stimulus attributes that frequently occur together. Is such learning favored for categories over individual items? Here, we introduce a novel paradigm for directly comparing category- to item-level learning. In a category-level experiment, even numbers (2,4,6,8) had a high-probability of appearing in blue, and odd numbers (3,5,7,9) in yellow. Associative learning was measured by the relative performance on trials with low-probability (p = .09) to high-probability (p = .91) number colors. There was strong evidence for associative learning: low-probability performance was impaired (40ms RT increase and 8.3% accuracy decrease relative to high-probability). This was not the case in an item-level experiment with a different group of participants, in which high-probability colors were non-categorically assigned (blue: 2,3,6,7; yellow: 4,5,8,9; 9ms RT increase and 1.5% accuracy increase). The categorical advantage was upheld in an explicit color association report (83% accuracy vs. 43% at the item-level). These results support a conceptual view of perception and suggest empirical bases of categorical, not item-level, color labeling of learning materials. [less ▲]

Number transcoding in bilinguals—A transversal developmental study

in PLoS ONE (2022), 17(8), 0273391

Number transcoding is the cognitive task of converting between different numerical codes (i.e. visual “42”, verbal “forty-two”). Visual symbolic to verbal transcoding and vice versa strongly relies on ... [more ▼]

Number transcoding is the cognitive task of converting between different numerical codes (i.e. visual “42”, verbal “forty-two”). Visual symbolic to verbal transcoding and vice versa strongly relies on language proficiency. We evaluated transcoding of German-French bilinguals from Luxembourg in 5th, 8th, 11th graders and adults. In the Luxembourgish educational system, children acquire mathematics in German (LM1) until the 7th grade, and then the language of learning mathematic switches to French (LM2). French `70s `80s `90s are less transparent than `30s `40s `50s numbers, since they have a base-20 structure, which is not the case in German. Transcoding was evaluated with a reading aloud and a verbal-visual number matching task. Results of both tasks show a cognitive cost for transcoding numbers having a base-20 structure (i.e. `70s, `80s and `90s), such that response times were slower in all age groups. Furthermore, considering only base-10 numbers (i.e. `30s `40s `50s), it appeared that transcoding in LM2 (French) also entailed a cost. While participants across age groups tended to read numbers slower in LM2, this effect was limited to the youngest age group in the matching task. In addition, participants made more errors when reading LM2 numbers. In conclusion, we observed an age-independent language effect with numbers having a base-20 structure in French, reflecting their reduced transparency with respect to the decimal system. Moreover, we find an effect of language of math acquisition such that transcoding is less well mastered in LM2. This effect tended to persist until adulthood in the reading aloud task, while in the matching task performance both languages become similar in older adolescents and young adults. This study supports the link between numbers and language, especially highlighting the impact of language on reading numbers aloud from childhood to adulthood. [less ▲]

Reasoning on conflicting information: An empirical study of Formal Argumentation

in PLoS ONE (2022), 17(8 August),

According to the Argumentative Theory, human reasoning has an argumentative function, which consists of devising and evaluating arguments for and against various claims. It is however unclear how humans ... [more ▼]

According to the Argumentative Theory, human reasoning has an argumentative function, which consists of devising and evaluating arguments for and against various claims. It is however unclear how humans handle conflicting claims they face in everyday life (i.e., “Bob is telling me that Alice is at the library” vs. “Charles is telling me that Alice is at home”). We here investigate human argumentative reasoning in the light of Formal Argumentation, a research field that develops formal methods to give a normative account of argumentation and reasoning about conflicting information. In Formal Argumentation, multiple argumentation semantics that allow selecting sets of jointly acceptable arguments have been proposed. Nonetheless, it is unclear which of these semantics predicts best how humans evaluate the acceptability of conflicting arguments. We conducted an empirical study in which 130 young adults judged natural language arguments. We instructed them to draw the attack relation between the given arguments and to evaluate the acceptability of each of these arguments. Our results show that human judgments on the existence and directionality of attacks between the arguments conform to theoretical predictions from Formal Argumentation. We further found out that some less well-known argumentation semantics predicted human evaluation better than the most well-known semantics. These findings support the cognitive plausibility of variants of Formal Argumentation and bring new insights into reasoning about conflicting information. [less ▲]

Sprach- und Leseunterschiede zwischen portugiesischen Migrantenkindern mit und ohne Klassenwiederholung in Luxemburg.

in University of Luxembourg, LUCET; Ministère de l’Éducation nationale, de l’Enfance et de la Jeunesse, SCRIPT, (Eds.) Nationaler Bildungsbericht Luxemburg 2021 (2021)

Antônio ist ein Junge aus Luxemburg im schulpflichtigen Alter. Er wird demnächst Lesen und Schreiben lernen. Antônios Eltern sind Portugiesen, und zu Hause sprechen sie nur ihre Muttersprache. In Cycle 1 ... [more ▼]

Antônio ist ein Junge aus Luxemburg im schulpflichtigen Alter. Er wird demnächst Lesen und Schreiben lernen. Antônios Eltern sind Portugiesen, und zu Hause sprechen sie nur ihre Muttersprache. In Cycle 1 (Vorschule) hat Antônio Luxemburgisch sprechen gelernt. Seit er in der Vorschule mit der Sprache in Berührung gekommen ist, hat er sich einen großen Wortschatz in Luxemburgisch angeeignet. Wortschatzkenntnisse gehören zu den wichtigsten Voraussetzungen für das Lesen (Lervåg & Aukrust, 2010). Kinder, die das Lesenlernen mit umfangreicheren Wortschatzkenntnissen beginnen, haben bessere Chancen auf Lernerfolge beim Lesen. Für Kinder in Luxemburg ist es eine große Herausforderung, dass der Schriftspracherwerb in Deutsch erfolgt, das für die meisten von ihnen eine Fremdsprache ist, und nicht in Luxemburgisch, also der Sprache, die sie zuvor in Cycle 1 gelernt haben. [less ▲]

Learning mathematics with shackles: How lower reading comprehension in the language of mathematics instruction accounts for lower mathematics achievement in speakers of different home languages

in Acta Psychologica (2021)

Canonical representations of fingers and dots trigger an automatic activation of number semantics: an EEG study on 10-year-old children

in Neuropsychologia (2021)

Over the course of development, children must learn to map a non-symbolic representation of magnitude to a more precise symbolic system. There is solid evidence that finger and dot representations can ... [more ▼]

Over the course of development, children must learn to map a non-symbolic representation of magnitude to a more precise symbolic system. There is solid evidence that finger and dot representations can facilitate or even predict the acquisition of this mapping skill. While several behavioral studies demonstrated that canonical representations of fingers and dots automatically activate number semantics, no study so far has investigated their cerebral basis. To examine these questions, 10-year-old children were presented a behavioral naming task and a Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation EEG paradigm. In the behavioral task, children had to name as fast and as accurately as possible the numbers of dots and fingers presented in canonical and non-canonical configurations. In the EEG experiment, one category of stimuli (e.g., canonical representation of fingers or dots) was periodically inserted (1/5) in streams of another category (e.g., non-canonical representation of fingers or dots) presented at a fast rate (4 Hz). Results demonstrated an automatic access to number semantics and bilateral categorical responses at 4 Hz/5 for canonical representations of fingers and dots. Some differences between finger and dot configuration’s processing were nevertheless observed and are discussed in light of an effortful-automatic continuum hypothesis. [less ▲]

Lernstörungen im multilingualen Kontext: Diagnose und Hilfestellungen.

Book published by Melusina Press (2021)

Um Kinder mit einer Lernstörung durch möglichst angepasste Hilfsmaßnahmen unterstützen zu können, ist eine umfassende Diagnostik maßgeblich. Die Diagnostik von Lernstörungen stellt vor allem in ... [more ▼]

Um Kinder mit einer Lernstörung durch möglichst angepasste Hilfsmaßnahmen unterstützen zu können, ist eine umfassende Diagnostik maßgeblich. Die Diagnostik von Lernstörungen stellt vor allem in multilingualen Kontexten - wie in Luxemburg - eine Herausforderung dar. Auch werden derzeit vorwiegend im Ausland entwickelte diagnostische Tests durchgeführt, welche die luxemburgischen Besonderheiten, wie etwa das Erlernen der schriftsprachlichen und mathematischen Kompetenzen in einer Zweit- oder Drittsprache, nicht berücksichtigen. Ausgehend vom aktuellen Forschungs- und Wissensstand wird ein vertieftes Verständnis im Hinblick auf Lese- und Rechtschreibstörungen und Rechenstörungen dargelegt. Darauf aufbauend werden diagnostische Vorgehensweisen sowie pädagogische Hilfsmaßnahmen mithilfe von Erfahrungswerten praktizierender Fachkräfte aus dem luxemburgischen Förderbereich vorgestellt. [less ▲]

LEARN Newsletter - Editioun 2021

Book published by LEARN (2021)