Individual differences in inhibitory control, not non-verbal number acuity, correlate with mathematics achievement

Camilla Gilmore, N F Attridge, Sarah Clayton, Lucy Cragg, Samantha Johnson, Neil Marlow, Victoria Simms, Matthew Inglis

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

  • 143 Citations

Abstract

Given the well-documented failings in mathematics education in many Western societies, there has been an increased interest in understanding the cognitive underpinnings of mathematical achievement. Recent research has proposed the existence of an Approximate Number System (ANS) which allows individuals to represent and manipulate non-verbal numerical information. Evidence has shown that performance on a measure of the ANS (a dot comparison task) is related to mathematics achievement, which has led researchers to suggest that the ANS plays a critical role in mathematics learning. Here we show that, rather than being driven by the nature of underlying numerical representations, this relationship may in fact be an artefact of the inhibitory control demands of some trials of the dot comparison task. This suggests that recent work basing mathematics assessments and interventions around dot comparison tasks may be inappropriate.
LanguageEnglish
Article numbere67374
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume8
Issue number6
DOIs
StatusPublished - 13 Jun 2013

Fingerprint

Mathematics
Individuality
Numbering systems
Artifacts
education
learning
researchers
Education
Research Personnel
Learning
mathematics
Research

Cite this

Individual differences in inhibitory control, not non-verbal number acuity, correlate with mathematics achievement. / Gilmore, Camilla; Attridge, N F; Clayton, Sarah; Cragg, Lucy; Johnson, Samantha; Marlow, Neil; Simms, Victoria; Inglis, Matthew.

In: PLoS ONE, Vol. 8, No. 6, e67374, 13.06.2013.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Gilmore, C, Attridge, NF, Clayton, S, Cragg, L, Johnson, S, Marlow, N, Simms, V & Inglis, M 2013, 'Individual differences in inhibitory control, not non-verbal number acuity, correlate with mathematics achievement' PLoS ONE, vol. 8, no. 6, e67374. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067374
Gilmore C, Attridge NF, Clayton S, Cragg L, Johnson S, Marlow N et al. Individual differences in inhibitory control, not non-verbal number acuity, correlate with mathematics achievement. PLoS ONE. 2013 Jun 13;8(6). e67374. Available from, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067374
Gilmore, Camilla ; Attridge, N F ; Clayton, Sarah ; Cragg, Lucy ; Johnson, Samantha ; Marlow, Neil ; Simms, Victoria ; Inglis, Matthew. / Individual differences in inhibitory control, not non-verbal number acuity, correlate with mathematics achievement. In: PLoS ONE. 2013 ; Vol. 8, No. 6.
@article{d6959894b3ea41e7bbe94a4babd521be,
title = "Individual differences in inhibitory control, not non-verbal number acuity, correlate with mathematics achievement",
abstract = "Given the well-documented failings in mathematics education in many Western societies, there has been an increased interest in understanding the cognitive underpinnings of mathematical achievement. Recent research has proposed the existence of an Approximate Number System (ANS) which allows individuals to represent and manipulate non-verbal numerical information. Evidence has shown that performance on a measure of the ANS (a dot comparison task) is related to mathematics achievement, which has led researchers to suggest that the ANS plays a critical role in mathematics learning. Here we show that, rather than being driven by the nature of underlying numerical representations, this relationship may in fact be an artefact of the inhibitory control demands of some trials of the dot comparison task. This suggests that recent work basing mathematics assessments and interventions around dot comparison tasks may be inappropriate.",
author = "Camilla Gilmore and Attridge, {N F} and Sarah Clayton and Lucy Cragg and Samantha Johnson and Neil Marlow and Victoria Simms and Matthew Inglis",
year = "2013",
month = "6",
day = "13",
doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0067374",
language = "English",
volume = "8",
journal = "PLoS ONE",
issn = "1932-6203",
publisher = "Public Library of Science (PLOS)",
number = "6",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Individual differences in inhibitory control, not non-verbal number acuity, correlate with mathematics achievement

AU - Gilmore,Camilla

AU - Attridge,N F

AU - Clayton,Sarah

AU - Cragg,Lucy

AU - Johnson,Samantha

AU - Marlow,Neil

AU - Simms,Victoria

AU - Inglis,Matthew

PY - 2013/6/13

Y1 - 2013/6/13

N2 - Given the well-documented failings in mathematics education in many Western societies, there has been an increased interest in understanding the cognitive underpinnings of mathematical achievement. Recent research has proposed the existence of an Approximate Number System (ANS) which allows individuals to represent and manipulate non-verbal numerical information. Evidence has shown that performance on a measure of the ANS (a dot comparison task) is related to mathematics achievement, which has led researchers to suggest that the ANS plays a critical role in mathematics learning. Here we show that, rather than being driven by the nature of underlying numerical representations, this relationship may in fact be an artefact of the inhibitory control demands of some trials of the dot comparison task. This suggests that recent work basing mathematics assessments and interventions around dot comparison tasks may be inappropriate.

AB - Given the well-documented failings in mathematics education in many Western societies, there has been an increased interest in understanding the cognitive underpinnings of mathematical achievement. Recent research has proposed the existence of an Approximate Number System (ANS) which allows individuals to represent and manipulate non-verbal numerical information. Evidence has shown that performance on a measure of the ANS (a dot comparison task) is related to mathematics achievement, which has led researchers to suggest that the ANS plays a critical role in mathematics learning. Here we show that, rather than being driven by the nature of underlying numerical representations, this relationship may in fact be an artefact of the inhibitory control demands of some trials of the dot comparison task. This suggests that recent work basing mathematics assessments and interventions around dot comparison tasks may be inappropriate.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84879041288&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0067374

UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0067374

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0067374

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0067374

M3 - Article

VL - 8

JO - PLoS ONE

T2 - PLoS ONE

JF - PLoS ONE

SN - 1932-6203

IS - 6

M1 - e67374

ER -

Access to Document

  • Published version

    © 2013 Gilmore et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

    Final published version, 355 KBLicence: CC BY