The Use of a Computer Display Exaggerates the Connection Between Education and Approximate Number Ability in Remote Populations
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opmi_a_00016.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
466.2 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
43e5d764f6181cdee70a27164acbddc9
Author(s)
Gibson, Edward A
Jara-Ettinger, Jose Julian
Levy, Roger P
Piantadosi, Steven Thomas
Date Issued
December 17, 2017
Journal
Open Mind: Discoveries in Cognitive Science
Publisher
M.I.T. Press
Citation
Gibson, Edward et al. "The Use of a Computer Display Exaggerates the Connection Between Education and Approximate Number Ability in Remote Populations." Open Mind: Discoveries in Cognitive Science, 2, 1 (December 2017): 37–46 © 2017 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Piazza et al. reported a strong correlation between education and approximate number sense (ANS) acuity in a remote Amazonian population, suggesting that symbolic and nonsymbolic numerical thinking mutually enhance one another over in mathematics instruction. But Piazza et al. ran their task using a computer display, which may have exaggerated the connection between the two tasks, because participants with greater education (and hence better exact numerical abilities) may have been more comfortable with the task. To explore this possibility, we ran an ANS task in a remote population using two presentation methods: (a) a computer interface and (b) physical cards, within participants. If we only analyze the effect of education on ANS as measured by the computer version of the task, we replicate Piazza et al.’s finding. But importantly, the effect of education on the card version of the task is not significant, suggesting that the use of a computer display exaggerates effects. These results highlight the importance of task considerations when working with nonindustrialized cultures, especially those with low education. Furthermore, these results raise doubts about the proposal advanced by Piazza et al. that education enhances the acuity of the approximate number sense. Keywords: number comprehension; cross-culture differences; individual differences
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1162/opmi_a_00016
