Nonsymbolic, approximate arithmetic in children: Abstract addition prior to instruction.

Abstract

Do children draw upon abstract representations of number when they perform approximate arithmetic operations? In this study, kindergarten children viewed animations suggesting addition of a sequence of sounds to an array of dots, and they compared the sum to a second dot array that differed from the sum by one of three ratios. Children performed this task successfully with all the signatures of adults’ nonsymbolic number representations: accuracy modulated by the ratio of the sum and the comparison quantity, equal performance for within- and cross-modality tasks and for addition and comparison tasks, and performance superior to that of a matched subtraction task. The findings provide clear evidence for nonsymbolic numerical operations on abstract numerical quantities in children who have not yet been taught formal arithmetic.