Trial reportJournal of experimental child psychology2016
Non-symbolic approximate arithmetic training improves math performance in preschoolers.
Trial report in Journal of experimental child psychology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 125 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of Computerized Cognitive Training Programs (CCTP) with Game-like Features in Children with or without Neuropsychological Disorders: a Meta-Analytic Investigation.Neuropsychology review · 2020Pooled it
- Non-Symbolic Magnitude Processing Is a Strong Correlate of Symbolic Math Skills in Children From Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.Developmental science · 2026Article
- Informal Mathematical Thinking: Invariance of the Role of Domain-General and Domain-Specific Precursors in Spain and Chile.Journal of Intelligence · 2025Article
- Neural Representation Precision of Distance Predicts Children's Arithmetic Performance.Human brain mapping · 2025Article
- Nonsymbolic Numerosity Maps at the Occipitotemporal Cortex Respond to Symbolic Numbers.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2023Article
- Article
- The database for extracting numerical and visual properties of numerosity processing in the Chinese population.Scientific data · 2023Article
- Environmental influences on mathematics performance in early childhood.Nature reviews psychology · 2022Article
- Incentive motivation improves numerosity discrimination in children and adolescents.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Teasing apart the unique contributions of cognitive and affective predictors of math performance.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2022Article
- Dogs (canis familiaris) underestimate the quantity of connected items: first demonstration of susceptibility to the connectedness illusion in non-human animals.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- When one size does not fit all: A latent profile analysis of low-income preschoolers' math skills.Journal of experimental child psychology · 2021Article
- Failure to replicate the benefit of approximate arithmetic training for symbolic arithmetic fluency in adults.Cognition · 2021Article
- Testing the role of symbols in preschool numeracy: An experimental computer-based intervention study.PloS one · 2021Article
- Modeling the interaction of numerosity and perceptual variables with the diffusion model.Cognitive psychology · 2020Article
- Early detection of learning difficulties using the BADyG-E2r Battery during primary education.Psicologia, reflexao e critica : revista semestral do Departamento de Psicologia da UFRGS · 2020Article
- Incentive motivation improves numerosity discrimination: Insights from pupillometry combined with drift-diffusion modelling.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Early Detection of Academic Performance During Primary Education Using the Spanish Primary School Aptitude Test (AEI) Battery.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
- Impaired large numerosity estimation and intact subitizing in developmental dyscalculia.PloS one · 2020Article
- A Finger-Based Numerical Training Failed to Improve Arithmetic Skills in Kindergarten Children Beyond Effects of an Active Non-numerical Control Training.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Math proficiency at early school age is an important predictor of later academic achievement. Thus, an important goal for society should be to improve math readiness in preschool-age children, especially in low-income children who typically arrive in kindergarten with less mathematical competency than their higher income peers. The majority of existing research-based math intervention programs target symbolic verbal number concepts in young children. However, very little attention has been paid to the preverbal intuitive ability to approximately represent numerical quantity, which is hypothesized to be an important foundation for full-fledged mathematical thinking. Here, we tested the hypothesis that repeated engagement of non-symbolic approximate addition and subtraction of large arrays of items results in improved math skills in very young children, an idea that stems from our previous studies in adults. In the current study, 3- to 5-year-olds showed selective improvements in math skills after multiple days of playing a tablet-based non-symbolic approximate arithmetic game compared with children who played a memory game. These findings, collectively with our previous reports, suggest that mental manipulation of approximate numerosities provides an important tool for improving math readiness, even in preschoolers who have yet to master the meaning of number words.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.