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Human beings are assumed to possess an approximate number system (ANS) dedicated to extracting and representing approximate numerical magnitude information. The ANS is assumed to be fundamental to arithmetic learning and has been shown to be associated with arithmetic performance. It is, however, still a matter of debate whether better arithmetic skills are reflected in the ANS. To address this issue, Chinese and German adults were compared regarding their performance in simple arithmetic tasks and in a non-symbolic numerical magnitude comparison task. Chinese participants showed a better performance in solving simple arithmetic tasks and faster reaction times in the non-symbolic numerical magnitude comparison task without making more errors than their German peers. These differences in performance could not be ascribed to differences in general cognitive abilities. Better arithmetic skills were thus found to be accompanied by a higher speed of retrieving non-symbolic numerical magnitude knowledge but not by a higher precision of non-symbolic numerical magnitude representations. The group difference in the speed of retrieving non-symbolic numerical magnitude knowledge was fully mediated by the performance in arithmetic tasks, suggesting that arithmetic skills shape non-symbolic numerical magnitude processing skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation of the Chinese society was political and economic by revolution; it was also social and cultural through mass education. Group decisions have been used to induce social change in the Chinese society and applied extensively to the family planning program. The methods which Kurt Lewin developed to change food habits, have been perfected on a grand scale and in myriad ways by the Chines. Health education in China has the advantage of having the whole-hearted support of the community and its organizations once the decision of priority is made. It involves not only the message and the media to communicate with the public, but also the social institutions, the values of society and community resources. The health education model developed by Green proved most useful in the analysis of factors contributing to the program success. China's experience suggests that there is an element of universality in the social and psychological forces which enhance or impede change and in the educational components which facilitate the planning and development of a program to influence health behavior, irrespective of the social context in which education takes place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]