Kim Narae, Jang Selim, Cho Soohyun
Department of Psychology, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea.
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, United States.
Front Psychol. 2018 Oct 2;9:1775. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01775. eCollection 2018.
The goals of the present study were to test whether (and which) basic numerical abilities can be improved with training and whether training effects transfer to improvement in children's math achievement. The literature is mixed with evidence that does or does not substantiate the efficacy of training basic numerical ability. In the present study, we developed a child-friendly software named "123 Bakery" which includes four training modules; non-symbolic numerosity comparison, non-symbolic numerosity estimation, approximate arithmetic, and symbol-to-numerosity mapping. Fifty-six first graders were randomly assigned to either the training or control group. The training group participated in 6 weeks of training (5 times a week, 30 minutes per day). All participants underwent pre- and post-training assessment of their basic numerical processing ability (including numerosity discrimination acuity, symbolic/non-symbolic magnitude estimation, approximate arithmetic, and symbol-to-numerosity mapping), overall math achievement and intelligence, 6 weeks apart. The acuity for numerosity discrimination (approximate number sense acuity; hereafter ANS acuity) significantly improved after training, but this training effect did not transfer to improvement in symbolic, exact calculation, or any other math ability. We conclude that basic numerical cognition training leads to improvement in ANS acuity, but whether this effect transfers to symbolic math ability remains to be further tested.
本研究的目的是测试基本数字能力是否（以及哪些）可以通过训练得到提高，以及训练效果是否能转化为儿童数学成绩的提高。关于训练基本数字能力的有效性，文献中的证据有支持的，也有不支持的。在本研究中，我们开发了一款名为“123面包店”的儿童友好型软件，它包括四个训练模块：非符号数字比较、非符号数字估计、近似算术以及符号到数字映射。56名一年级学生被随机分配到训练组或对照组。训练组参加了为期6周的训练（每周5次，每天30分钟）。所有参与者在训练前后6周分别接受了基本数字处理能力（包括数字辨别敏锐度、符号/非符号大小估计、近似算术以及符号到数字映射）、整体数学成绩和智力的评估。数字辨别敏锐度（近似数字感敏锐度；以下简称ANS敏锐度）在训练后显著提高，但这种训练效果并没有转化为符号、精确计算或任何其他数学能力的提高。我们得出结论，基本数字认知训练会导致ANS敏锐度提高，但这种效果是否能转化为符号数学能力仍有待进一步测试。
