Improving Preschoolers’ Arithmetic through Number Magnitude Training: The Impact of Non-Symbolic and Symbolic Training

The numerical cognition literature offers two views to explain numerical and arithmetical development. The unique-representation view considers the approximate number system (ANS) to represent the magnitude of both symbolic and non-symbolic numbers and to be the basis of numerical learning. In contrast, the dual-representation view suggests that symbolic and non-symbolic skills rely on different magnitude representations and that it is the ability to build an exact representation of symbolic numbers that underlies math learning. Support for these hypotheses has come mainly from correlative studies with inconsistent results. In this study, we developed two training programs aiming at enhancing the magnitude processing of either non-symbolic numbers or symbolic numbers and compared their effects on arithmetic skills. Fifty-six preschoolers were randomly assigned to one of three 10-session-training conditions: (1) non-symbolic training (2) symbolic training and (3) control training working on story understanding. Both numerical training conditions were significantly more efficient than the control condition in improving magnitude processing. Moreover, symbolic training led to a significantly larger improvement in arithmetic than did non-symbolic training and the control condition. These results support the dual-representation view.