Finger numeral representations contribute to acquiring number semantics in 4-year-old children

Resumen

Recently, there has been heightened interest in studying early precursors of numerical competence. In this context, the role of finger numeral representations inchildren’s developing quantitative skills has received increasing attention. Since fingers can be an external aid to represent numbers, it has been suggested thatthey could play a functional role in the development of basic numerical abilities. Indeed, it has been argued that finger representations may provide the “missinglink” that allows the connection between children’s (likely) innate capacity for processing numerosities and number symbols. In this study, we aimed at exploringwhether performance on finger numeral representations explained individual differences in symbolic numerical magnitude processing (as measured on anumber comparison task) controlling for other domain-general and domain-specific factors that impact children’s ability to process number symbols. Resultsshowed that finger representation processing skills were a unique predictor of symbolic numerical magnitude processing. This finding suggests that educationalpractices that encourage using finger representations may help to link numerical quantities and their symbolic representation. In other words, finger numeralrepresentations would offer children the opportunity to learn the basic principles of numbers.