Refine
Has Fulltext
- no (1)
Year of publication
- 2012 (1) (remove)
Document Type
- Article (1)
Language
- English (1)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (1)
Keywords
- Counting (1) (remove)
Institute
Western adults associate small numbers with left space and large numbers with right space. Where does this pervasive spatial-numerical association come from? In this study, we first recorded directional counting preferences in adults with different reading experiences (left to right, right to left, mixed, and illiterate) and observed a clear relationship between reading and counting directions. We then recorded directional counting preferences in pre-schoolers and elementary school children from three of these reading cultures (left to right, right to left, and mixed). Culture-specific counting biases existed before reading acquisition in children as young as 3 years and were subsequently modified by early reading experience. Together, our results suggest that both directional counting and scanning activities contribute to number-space associations.