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Finger counting habit and spatial–numerical association in children and adults.

Authors :
Fabbri, Marco
Guarini, Annalisa
Source :
Consciousness & Cognition. Feb2016, Vol. 40, p45-53. 9p.
Publication Year :
2016

Abstract

Sensory-motor experiences are known to build up concrete and abstract concepts during the lifespan. The present study aimed to test how finger counting habits (right-hand vs. left-hand starters) could influence the spatial–numerical representation in number-to-position (explicit) and digit-string bisection (implicit) tasks. The subjects were Italian primary school children ( N = 184, from the first to the fifth year) and adults ( N = 42). No general preference for right- or left-starting in the finger counting was found. In the explicit task, right- or left-starting did not affect performance. In the implicit task, the right-hand starters shifted from the left to the right space when bisecting small and large numbers respectively, while the left-hand starters shifted from the right to the left space with higher leftward bias for large numbers. The finger configuration in Italian children and adults influences the spatial–numerical representation, but only when implicit number processing is required by the task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
10538100
Volume :
40
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Consciousness & Cognition
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
112784396
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2015.12.012