Numerical cognition after brain injury: is there a relationship between subitizing and arithmetical abilities?

Subitizing is the ability to enumerate small quantities efficiently and automatically. Counting is a strategy adopted for larger numerosities resulting in a near linear increase in response time with each increase in quantity. Some developmental studies suggest that being able to subitize efficientl...

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Päätekijät: Gosling, E, Demeyere, N, Dowker, A
Aineistotyyppi: Journal article
Kieli:English
Julkaistu: MDPI 2023
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author Gosling, E
Demeyere, N
Dowker, A
author_facet Gosling, E
Demeyere, N
Dowker, A
author_sort Gosling, E
collection OXFORD
description Subitizing is the ability to enumerate small quantities efficiently and automatically. Counting is a strategy adopted for larger numerosities resulting in a near linear increase in response time with each increase in quantity. Some developmental studies suggest that being able to subitize efficiently may be a predictor of later arithmetical ability. Being able to enumerate small quantities efficiently may be necessary for at least some aspects of arithmetical skill and understanding to develop. According to this view, arithmetic ability ultimately depends upon subitizing. If this were the case, when acquired brain injury results in impaired performance on subitizing tasks, mathematical performance may also be impaired. The following study tested eleven healthy control participants and nine chronic patients with acquired brain injury on tasks focused on visual enumeration, addition and multiplication to explore a potential relationship between subitizing ability and calculation performance. No overall correlations were found between subitizing and addition or multiplication speed. However, a very clear subitizing impairment was found in two patients who then demonstrated very different levels of preserved addition skills. The dissociations found and the large inter-individual variability supports a more componential view of arithmetical ability.
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spelling oxford-uuid:342561f4-6e69-42ef-b13a-a97d6af65a352023-09-14T12:00:33ZNumerical cognition after brain injury: is there a relationship between subitizing and arithmetical abilities? Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:342561f4-6e69-42ef-b13a-a97d6af65a35EnglishSymplectic ElementsMDPI2023Gosling, EDemeyere, NDowker, ASubitizing is the ability to enumerate small quantities efficiently and automatically. Counting is a strategy adopted for larger numerosities resulting in a near linear increase in response time with each increase in quantity. Some developmental studies suggest that being able to subitize efficiently may be a predictor of later arithmetical ability. Being able to enumerate small quantities efficiently may be necessary for at least some aspects of arithmetical skill and understanding to develop. According to this view, arithmetic ability ultimately depends upon subitizing. If this were the case, when acquired brain injury results in impaired performance on subitizing tasks, mathematical performance may also be impaired. The following study tested eleven healthy control participants and nine chronic patients with acquired brain injury on tasks focused on visual enumeration, addition and multiplication to explore a potential relationship between subitizing ability and calculation performance. No overall correlations were found between subitizing and addition or multiplication speed. However, a very clear subitizing impairment was found in two patients who then demonstrated very different levels of preserved addition skills. The dissociations found and the large inter-individual variability supports a more componential view of arithmetical ability.
spellingShingle Gosling, E
Demeyere, N
Dowker, A
Numerical cognition after brain injury: is there a relationship between subitizing and arithmetical abilities?
title Numerical cognition after brain injury: is there a relationship between subitizing and arithmetical abilities?
title_full Numerical cognition after brain injury: is there a relationship between subitizing and arithmetical abilities?
title_fullStr Numerical cognition after brain injury: is there a relationship between subitizing and arithmetical abilities?
title_full_unstemmed Numerical cognition after brain injury: is there a relationship between subitizing and arithmetical abilities?
title_short Numerical cognition after brain injury: is there a relationship between subitizing and arithmetical abilities?
title_sort numerical cognition after brain injury is there a relationship between subitizing and arithmetical abilities
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AT demeyeren numericalcognitionafterbraininjuryistherearelationshipbetweensubitizingandarithmeticalabilities
AT dowkera numericalcognitionafterbraininjuryistherearelationshipbetweensubitizingandarithmeticalabilities