Acquiring robust semantic representations of numbers is crucial for math achievement. However, the learning stage where magnitude becomes automatically elicited by number symbols (i.e., digits from 1 to 9) remains unknown due to the difficulty to measure automatic semantic processing. We used a frequency-tagging EEG paradigm targeting automatic…

Four-month-old infants extract ordinal information in number-based and size-based visual sequences, provided that magnitude changes involve increasing relations. Here the ontogenetic origins of ordinal processing were investigated between 2018 and 2022 by testing newborns' discrimination of reversal in numerosity (Experiment 1, N = 22 White, 11…

This study, involving 120 children (M[subscript age] = 4.25; SD = 0.83; 53% Female, 49% White, 23% multiracial, 16% Black, 9% Asian American, and 3% Latine) and their parents, examined parent talk constructs and their relation to children's early academic skills in 2021. Parents' talk was best represented as a three-factor structure (general,…

The number-line task has been extensively used to study the mental representation of numbers in children. However, studies suggest that proportional reasoning provides a better account of children's performance. Ninety 4- to 6-year-olds were given a number-line task with symbolic numbers, with clustered dot arrays that resembled a perceptual…

Children rely on their Approximate Number System to intuitively perceive number. Such adaptations often exhibit sensitivity to real-world statistics. This study investigates a potential manifestation of the ANS's sensitivity to real-world statistics: a negative power-law distribution of objects in natural scenes should be reflected in children's…

The number line estimation task is frequently used to measure children's numerical magnitude understanding. It is unclear whether the resulting straight, horizontal, left-to-right-oriented estimate patterns indicate task constraints or children's intuitive number--space mapping. Three- to six-year-old children (N = 72, M[subscript age] = 4.89, 56%…

Relational language is thought to influence mathematical skills. This study examines the association between "relational language" and "number relation skills"--knowledge of cardinal, ordinal, and spatial principles--among 104 U.S. kindergartners (5.9 years; 44% boys; 37% White, 25% Black, 14% Asian, 24% other) in the 2017-2018…

A fundamental question in numerical development concerns the directional relation between an early-emerging non-verbal approximate number system (ANS) and culturally acquired verbal number and mathematics knowledge. Using path models on longitudinal data collected in preschool children (M[subscript age] = 3.86 years; N = 216; 99 males; 80.8%…

Although many U.S. children can count sets by 4 years, it is not until 5½--6 years that they understand how counting relates to number--that is, that adding 1 to a set necessitates counting up one number. This study examined two knowledge sources that 3½- to 6-year-olds (N = 136) may leverage to acquire this "successor function": (a)…

Experimentally manipulating Approximate Number System (ANS) precision has been found to influence children's subsequent symbolic math performance. Here in three experiments (N = 160; 81 girls; 3-5 year old) we replicated this effect and examined its duration and developmental trajectory. We found that modulation of 5-year-olds' ANS precision…

We explore whether training parents' math skills or playing number games improves children's mathematical skills. Participants were 162 parent-child dyads; 88.3% were white and children (79 female) were 4 years (M = 46.88 months). Dyads were assigned to a number game, shape game, parent-only approximate number system training, parent-only general…

The ability to choose the larger between two numbers reflects a mature understanding of the magnitude associated with numerical symbols. The present study explores how the knowledge of the number sequence and memory capacity (verbal and visuospatial) relate to number comparison skills while controlling for cardinal knowledge. Preschool children's…

This study examines the core predictors of the covariance in reading and arithmetic fluency and the domain-general cognitive skills that explain the core predictors and covariance. Seven-year-old Finnish children (N = 200) were assessed on rapid automatized naming (RAN), phonological awareness, letter knowledge, verbal counting, number writing,…

Place value concepts were measured longitudinally from kindergarten (2017) to first grade (2018) in a diverse sample (n = 279; M[subscript age] = 5.76 years, SD = 0.55; 135 females; 41% Black, 38% White, 8% Asian, 12% Latino). Children completed three syntactic tasks that required an explicit understanding of base-10 symbols and three approximate…

This study examined how colored educational tools improve children's numerosity ("number sense") and/or mathematics. We tested children 6-10 years (n = 3,236) who had been exposed to colored numbers from the educational tools "Numicon" (Oxford University Press, 2018) or "Numberjacks" (Ellis, 2006), which map colors to…