TY  - JOUR
A1  - Göbel, Silke M.
A1  - McCrink, Koleen
A1  - Fischer, Martin H.
A1  - Shaki, Samuel
T1  - Observation of directional storybook reading influences young children’s counting direction
JF  - Journal of experimental child psychology
N2  - Even before formal schooling, children map numbers onto space in a directional manner. The origin of this preliterate spatial–numerical association is still debated. We investigated the role of enculturation for shaping the directionality of the association between numbers and space, focusing on counting behavior in 3- to 5-year-old preliterate children. Two studies provide evidence that, after observing reading from storybooks (left-to-right or right-to-left reading) children change their counting direction in line with the direction of observed reading. Just observing visuospatial directional movements had no such effect on counting direction. Complementarily, we document that book illustrations, prevalent in children’s cultures, exhibit directionality that conforms to the direction of a culture’s written language. We propose that shared book reading activates spatiotemporal representations of order in young children, which in turn affect their spatial representation of numbers.
KW  - Counting direction
KW  - Cross-cultural
KW  - Mental number line
KW  - Reading
KW  - Spatial-numerical association
KW  - Preschool children
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.08.001
SN  - 0022-0965
SN  - 1096-0457
VL  - 166
SP  - 49
EP  - 66
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - New York
ER  -