Spontaneous mapping of number and space in adults and young children

Mature representations of space and number are connected to one another in ways suggestive of a ‘mental number line’, but this mapping could either be a cultural construction or a reflection of a more fundamental link between the domains of number and geometry. Using a manual bisection paradigm, we...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognition 2009-02, Vol.110 (2), p.198-207
Main Authors: de Hevia, Maria-Dolores, Spelke, Elizabeth S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adults
Aging - psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child development
Children
Cognition
Cognition - physiology
Cognitive Processes
Correlation
Development of mental number line
Developmental psychology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Geometry
Humans
Line bisection
Male
Mapping
Mathematical Models
Mental number line
Number Concepts
Numbers
Preschool Children
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Space Perception - physiology
Spatial Ability
Spatial analysis
Young Adult
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Summary:Mature representations of space and number are connected to one another in ways suggestive of a ‘mental number line’, but this mapping could either be a cultural construction or a reflection of a more fundamental link between the domains of number and geometry. Using a manual bisection paradigm, we tested for number line representations in adults, young school children, and preschool children. Non-symbolic numerical displays systematically distorted localization of the midpoint of a horizontal line at all three ages. Numerical and spatial representations therefore are linked prior to the onset of formal instruction, in a manner that suggests a privileged relation between spatial and numerical cognition.
ISSN:0010-0277
1873-7838
DOI:10.1016/j.cognition.2008.11.003