Barth, HilaryBeckmann, LaceySpelke, Elizabeth2016-03-072008Barth, Hilary, Lacey Beckmann, and Elizabeth S. Spelke. 2008. “Nonsymbolic, Approximate Arithmetic in Children: Abstract Addition Prior to Instruction.” Developmental Psychology 44 (5): 1466–1477. doi:10.1037/a0013046.1939-0599http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:25715257Do 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.en-USJournal Article2016-03-0710.1037/a0013046