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Symbolic and non-symbolic predictors of number line task in Italian kindergarteners

The number line estimation task (NLE) is often used as a predictor for broader measures of mathematical achievement. In spite of its popularity, it is still not clear whether the task is based on symbolic or non-symbolic numerical competence. In particular, there is only a very limited amount of stu...

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Autores principales: Meloni, Carla, Delogu, Franco, Fanari, Rachele
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10185831/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37205065
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1137607
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author Meloni, Carla
Delogu, Franco
Fanari, Rachele
author_facet Meloni, Carla
Delogu, Franco
Fanari, Rachele
author_sort Meloni, Carla
collection PubMed
description The number line estimation task (NLE) is often used as a predictor for broader measures of mathematical achievement. In spite of its popularity, it is still not clear whether the task is based on symbolic or non-symbolic numerical competence. In particular, there is only a very limited amount of studies investigating the relationship between NLE performance and symbolic vs. non-symbolic math skills in children who have not yet begun formal schooling. This study investigates the strength of the association between NLE performance and symbolic and non-symbolic tasks in young kindergarteners. Ninety two 5-year-old children completed the NLE task (range 0–100) and a battery of early numerical competence tests including symbolic-lexical tasks, symbolic semantic tasks, and non-symbolic semantic tasks. The relationship between symbolic and non-symbolic early numerical competence and NLE performance was analyzed using a regression model based on the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC). Results show that only symbolic semantic tasks are significant predictors of NLE performance. These results suggest that symbolic numerical knowledge is involved in number line processing among young children, whilst non-symbolic knowledge is not. This finding brings new data to the debate on the relationship between non-symbolic numeral knowledge and symbolic number processing and supports the evidence of a primary role of symbolic number processing already in young kindergarteners.
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spelling pubmed-101858312023-05-17 Symbolic and non-symbolic predictors of number line task in Italian kindergarteners Meloni, Carla Delogu, Franco Fanari, Rachele Front Psychol Psychology The number line estimation task (NLE) is often used as a predictor for broader measures of mathematical achievement. In spite of its popularity, it is still not clear whether the task is based on symbolic or non-symbolic numerical competence. In particular, there is only a very limited amount of studies investigating the relationship between NLE performance and symbolic vs. non-symbolic math skills in children who have not yet begun formal schooling. This study investigates the strength of the association between NLE performance and symbolic and non-symbolic tasks in young kindergarteners. Ninety two 5-year-old children completed the NLE task (range 0–100) and a battery of early numerical competence tests including symbolic-lexical tasks, symbolic semantic tasks, and non-symbolic semantic tasks. The relationship between symbolic and non-symbolic early numerical competence and NLE performance was analyzed using a regression model based on the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC). Results show that only symbolic semantic tasks are significant predictors of NLE performance. These results suggest that symbolic numerical knowledge is involved in number line processing among young children, whilst non-symbolic knowledge is not. This finding brings new data to the debate on the relationship between non-symbolic numeral knowledge and symbolic number processing and supports the evidence of a primary role of symbolic number processing already in young kindergarteners. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-05-02 /pmc/articles/PMC10185831/ /pubmed/37205065 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1137607 Text en Copyright © 2023 Meloni, Delogu and Fanari. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Meloni, Carla
Delogu, Franco
Fanari, Rachele
Symbolic and non-symbolic predictors of number line task in Italian kindergarteners
title Symbolic and non-symbolic predictors of number line task in Italian kindergarteners
title_full Symbolic and non-symbolic predictors of number line task in Italian kindergarteners
title_fullStr Symbolic and non-symbolic predictors of number line task in Italian kindergarteners
title_full_unstemmed Symbolic and non-symbolic predictors of number line task in Italian kindergarteners
title_short Symbolic and non-symbolic predictors of number line task in Italian kindergarteners
title_sort symbolic and non-symbolic predictors of number line task in italian kindergarteners
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10185831/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37205065
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1137607
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