Understanding the unique contributions of home numeracy, inhibitory control, the approximate number system, and spontaneous focusing on number for children's math abilities

摘要

Math abilities predict children's academic achievement and outcomes in adulthood such as full-time employment and income. Previous work indicates that parenting factors (i.e., education, parent math ability, frequency of math activities) relate to children's math performance. Further, research demonstrates that both domain-general (i.e., language skills, inhibitory control) and domain-specific (i.e., approximate number system acuity, spontaneous focusing on number) cognitive predictors are related to math during early childhood. However, no work has examined all of these factors together to identify their unique contributions for early math. Here, we examine whether parent-level and child-level factors uniquely explain children's math abilities. To this end, 112 four-year-old children and one of their parents completed a battery of assessments and questionnaires. Results indicate that children's math performance is uniquely predicted by the frequency of home math activities, as well as children's own inhibitory control, approximate number system acuity, and tendency to spontaneously focus on number.