Observation of directional storybook reading influences young children’s counting direction
- 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.
Verfasserangaben: | Silke M. Göbel, Koleen McCrink, Martin H. FischerORCiDGND, Samuel ShakiORCiD |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.08.001 |
ISSN: | 0022-0965 |
ISSN: | 1096-0457 |
Pubmed ID: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28865295 |
Titel des übergeordneten Werks (Englisch): | Journal of experimental child psychology |
Verlag: | Elsevier |
Verlagsort: | New York |
Publikationstyp: | Wissenschaftlicher Artikel |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Datum der Erstveröffentlichung: | 31.08.2017 |
Erscheinungsjahr: | 2018 |
Datum der Freischaltung: | 31.01.2022 |
Freies Schlagwort / Tag: | Counting direction; Cross-cultural; Mental number line; Preschool children; Reading; Spatial-numerical association |
Band: | 166 |
Seitenanzahl: | 18 |
Erste Seite: | 49 |
Letzte Seite: | 66 |
Fördernde Institution: | British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant [SG121544]; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) [R15HD077518-01A1] |
Organisationseinheiten: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Strukturbereich Kognitionswissenschaften / Department Psychologie |
DDC-Klassifikation: | 1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie |