Mapping between number notations in kindergarten and the role of home numeracy

Early access to language supports number mapping skills in deaf children

The ability to associate different types of number representations referring to the same quantity (symbolic Arabic numerals, signed/spoken number words, and nonsymbolic quantities), is an important predictor of overall mathematical success. This foundational skill-mapping-has not been examined in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. To address this gap, we studied 188 4 1/2 to 9-year-old DHH and hearing children and systematically examined the relationship between their language experiences and mapping skills. We asked whether the timing of children's language exposure (early vs. later), the modality of their language (signed vs. spoken), and their rote counting abilities related to mapping performance. We found that language modality did not significantly relate to mapping performance, but timing of language exposure and counting skills did. These findings suggest that early access to language, whether spoken or signed, supports the development of age-typical mapping skills and that knowledge of number words is critical for this development.

Automatic integration of numerical formats examined with frequency-tagged EEG

How humans integrate and abstract numerical information across different formats is one of the most debated questions in human cognition. We addressed the neuronal signatures of the numerical integration using an EEG technique tagged at the frequency of visual stimulation. In an oddball design, participants were stimulated with standard sequences of numbers (< 5) depicted in single (digits, dots, number words) or mixed notation (dots-digits, number words-dots, digits-number words), presented at 10 Hz. Periodically, a deviant stimulus (> 5) was inserted at 1.25 Hz. We observed significant oddball amplitudes for all single notations, showing for the first time using this EEG technique, that the magnitude information is spontaneously and unintentionally abstracted, irrespectively of the numerical format. Significant amplitudes were also observed for digits-number words and number words-dots, but not for digits-dots, suggesting an automatic integration across some numerical formats. These results imply that direct and indirect neuro-cognitive links exist across the different numerical formats.