The role of non-symbolic and symbolic processing on children's arithmetic achievement

Abstract

The role of the Approximate Number System (ANS) on human’s arithmetic skills has long been debatable. While a number of studies have showed that people’s number acuity, or the smallest ratio between two quantities that can be distinguished at glance, is predictive of their arithmetic performance (e.g. Halberda, Mazzocco, & Feigenson, 2008; Piazza et al., 2010), many other studies reported insignificant relationship between the two (e.g. Iuculano, Tang, Hall, & Butterworth, 2008; Holloway & Ansari, 2008). The current study aimed at investigating the role of both non-symbolic and symbolic processing in children’s arithmetic development. Two-hundred and one Chinese kindergarten children, with a mean age of 6 years and 1 month, were assessed on their symbolic skills (counting and estimation), non-symbolic skills (number acuity), and arithmetic skills. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The final model, which has a good fit of the data (X2=20.634, CFI=.994, RMSEA=.021), suggested that non-symbolic processing predicted concurrent arithmetic performance indirectly through symbolic processing. The present findings support the role of ANS on human’s arithmetic skills and provide a potential reason for the insignificant results found in previous studies. Both symbolic processing and non-symbolic processing play an important role in children’s development of arithmetic skills.