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Measuring the approximate number system

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journal contribution
posted on 2011-11-29, 13:22 authored by Camilla GilmoreCamilla Gilmore, Nina Attridge, Matthew InglisMatthew Inglis
Recent theories in numerical cognition propose the existence of an approximate number system (ANS) that supports the representation and processing of quantity information without symbols. It has been claimed that this system is present in infants, children, and adults, that it supports learning of symbolic mathematics, and that correctly harnessing the system during tuition will lead to educational benefits. Various experimental tasks have been used to investigate individuals' ANSs, and it has been assumed that these tasks measure the same system. We tested the relationship across six measures of the ANS. Surprisingly, despite typical performance on each task, adult participants' performances across the tasks were not correlated, and estimates of the acuity of individuals' ANSs from different tasks were unrelated. These results highlight methodological issues with tasks typically used to measure the ANS and call into question claims that individuals use a single system to complete all these tasks.

History

School

  • Science

Department

  • Mathematics Education Centre

Published in

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

Volume

64

Pages

2099 - 2109

Citation

GILMORE, C., ATTRIDGE, N. and INGLIS, M., 2011. Measuring the approximate number system. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64 (11), pp. 2099-2109

Publisher

Taylor and Francis (© The Experimental Psychology Society)

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publication date

2011

Notes

This article was published in the serial Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology [Taylor and Francis / © The Experimental Psychology Society]. The definitive version is available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17470218.2011.574710

ISSN

1747-0218

Language

  • en

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