Understanding the unique contributions of home numeracy, inhibitory control, the approximate number system, and spontaneous focusing on number for children’s math abilities

ABSTRACT

Math abilities predict children’s academic achievement and outcomes in adulthood such as full-time employment and income. Previous work indicates that parenting factors (i.e., education, parent math ability, frequency of math activities) relate to children’s math performance. Further, research demonstrates that both domain-general (i.e., language skills, inhibitory control) and domain-specific (i.e., approximate number system acuity, spontaneous focusing on number) cognitive predictors are related to math during early childhood. However, no work has examined all of these factors together to identify their unique contributions for early math. Here, we examine whether parent-level and child-level factors uniquely explain children’s math abilities. To this end, 112 four-year-old children and one of their parents completed a battery of assessments and questionnaires. Results indicate that children’s math performance is uniquely predicted by the frequency of home math activities, as well as children’s own inhibitory control, approximate number system acuity, and tendency to spontaneously focus on number.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alex M. Silver

Alex M. Silver is a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh pursuing a PhD in Cognitive Psychology. Her research examines how social factors influence children’s cognitive development, with particular interest in studying the development of numerical cognition.

Leanne Elliott

Leanne Elliott is a postdoctoral associate in the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her PhD in Developmental Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2019. Her research examines contextual influences on children’s school readiness with a particular focus on math achievement in early childhood.

Adwoa Imbeah

Adwoa Imbeah is an undergraduate student at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in Psychology. She received a BPhil in Psychology in 2020.

Melissa E. Libertus

Melissa E. Libertus is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and a Research Scientist at the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience at the Duke University in 2010 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on the development of mathematical thinking in early childhood, specifically how complex mathematical thinking builds upon ontogenetically earlier number concepts and the mechanisms that shape this development. To address these questions, she uses a combination of behavioral methods and neuroscience tools (electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)). The overarching goal of her work is to further our theoretical understanding of early mathematical cognition, to use this knowledge to improve children’s math abilities through targeted interventions, and to ultimately increase students’ prospects for academic success in the STEM disciplines.