Study title

Two experiments where we systematically investigated the correspondence between auditory number words and visual Arabic digits in adults. Auditory number words and visual Arabic digits were presented concurrently or sequentially and participants had to indicate whether they described the same quantity. We also investigated whether individual differences in the efficiency of the cross-modal processing were related to differences in mathematical performance.Numeracy is the Cinderella of literacy, much less researched but at least as important for employment and life success as literacy. This research project will investigate the development of a fundamental principle of numeracy, the link between number words and number symbols, with the aim to identify potential risk factors for low numeracy. Children entering primary school need to shift from using mainly spoken numbers words (e.g., 'twenty-three') to being able to write down the correct multi-digit Arabic strings (e.g., '23') upon hearing spoken number words. This is called number word transcoding and fundamental for mathematical development. This project will investigate three aspects of transcoding between number words and Arabic digits. First, we will analyse the mapping between single Arabic digits (e.g., '8') and the corresponding number words (e.g., 'eight'), because the single Arabic digits are the basic building blocks for all Arabic multi-digit strings (e.g. 28732). Most children in primary school already know the single Arabic digits. We propose that the efficiency with which children map between digits and number words is still increasing in primary school. In this project we will test this by measuring the efficiency of the mapping in children of different ages. We will also measure children's mathematical ability to see whether the efficiency of the mapping is related to their mathematical ability. Secondly, this project will investigate multi-digit number transcoding. This is important because...