Finger patterns and cardinality

Resumo

The cardinality principle represents a crucial milestone in the development of early numerical skills. However, relatively few studies have investigated howchildren’s grasping of the cardinality principle can be supported. It has been suggested that the richness of number inputs children receive influences theacquisition of the cardinality. In line with these assumptions, finger patterns may play a functional role in numerical development by facilitating the learning ofcardinality through the assignment of symbols to quantities. However, no study has investigated to what extent efficiency to process finger configurations isrelated to learning of number semantics in young children who have received only minimal formal math instruction. The goal of this study was to examine therelationship between 3-year-old children’s efficiency to process finger patterns and their ability to understand the cardinality. Results showed that efficiency toprocess finger patterns was found to correlate with the children’s ability to understand the cardinality, after controlling for age, counting sequence, visual workingmemory capacity, dice patterns, and fine motor skills, pr = .36, p < .05. our findings support educational practices encouraging the representational role of fingerpatterns as a potential bridge between number words and the amounts they represent.