SymNumDev - (How) does language support the development of an independent symbolic number system? - FHSE

This project explores the cognitive mechanisms which allow young children to learn the abstract meaning numbers.

The project at a glance

Start date:

01 Dec 2021
Duration in months:

36
Funding:

FNR Luxembourg
Principal Investigator(s):

Christine SCHILTZ

Bert Reynvoet (external)

About

Previous research with adults suggests that symbolic numbers (e.g., digits) and non-symbolic numbers (e.g., dot arrays) are processed in two distinct cognitive systems. The development of the dissociation between these two systems, however, has been sparsely examined, and neuro-cognitive studies providing objective measures of this dissociation are still lacking. In addition, developmental models of number processing assume that children rely on pre-verbal representations to learn small number concepts (up to 4), and make use of semantic inductive procedures to infer the meaning of larger numbers. How children make the transition between small and large non-symbolic and symbolic numbers is yet unclear. In the current project, we address this gap in the literature and we hypothesize that children make this transition—and develop an independent symbolic number system—by applying linguistic recursive rules to the learning of number concepts. To test this claim, our research project’s aims are threefold: 1) to further examine the relation between small and large symbolic and non-symbolic number concepts in children by means of neurocognitive measures; 2) using behavioural measures, to investigate the linguistic mechanisms enabling children to transition from relying on pre-verbal number representation to employing an independent symbolic number system; and 3) to set up a training study to investigate whether children’s acquisition of numbers could be improved for numbers outside their current knowledge.

Organisation and Partners

Cognitive Science and Assessment Institute
Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences
Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE)
University of Leuven (Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences)

Project team

Christine SCHILTZ

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Bert Reynvoet

University of Leuven (campus Kortrijk, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences)
Mila MARINOVA

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