Representational change and magnitude estimation: Why young children can make more accurate salary comparisons than adults

Development of estimation has been ascribed to two sources: (1) a change from logarithmic to linear representations of number and (2) development of general mathematical skills. To test the representational change hypothesis, we gave children and adults a task in which an automatic, linear represent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognition 2008-09, Vol.108 (3), p.843-849
Main Authors: Opfer, John E., DeVries, Jeffrey M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adults
Age Factors
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child Development
Children
Cognitive development
Cognitive Processes
Comparative Analysis
Comprehension
Computation
Conceptual development
Developmental psychology
Estimation
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Male
Mathematics
Number representation
Numbers
Prediction
Problem Solving
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Salaries and Fringe Benefits
Task Analysis
Thinking Skills
Wages
Young Children
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Summary:Development of estimation has been ascribed to two sources: (1) a change from logarithmic to linear representations of number and (2) development of general mathematical skills. To test the representational change hypothesis, we gave children and adults a task in which an automatic, linear representation is less adaptive than the logarithmic representation: estimating the value of salaries given in fractional notation. The representational change hypothesis generated the surprising (and accurate) prediction that when estimating the magnitude of salaries given in fractional notation, young children would outperform adults, whereas when estimating the magnitude of the same salaries given in decimal notation, adults would outperform children.
ISSN:0010-0277
1873-7838
DOI:10.1016/j.cognition.2008.05.003