Intuitive sense of number correlates with math scores on college-entrance examination

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• 作者：Melissa E. Libertus ; ^{melissa.libertus@jhu.edu} ; Darko Odic ; Justin Halberda
• 关键词：2340 Cognitive processes
• 刊名：Acta Psychologica
• 出版年：2012
• 出版时间：November, 2012
• 年：2012
• 卷：141
• 期：3
• 页码：373-379
• 全文大小：446 K

文摘

Many educated adults possess exact mathematical abilities in addition to an approximate, intuitive sense of number, often referred to as the Approximate Number System (ANS). Here we investigate the link between ANS precision and mathematics performance in adults by testing participants on an ANS-precision test and collecting their scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), a standardized college-entrance exam in the USA. In two correlational studies, we found that ANS precision correlated with SAT-Quantitative (i.e., mathematics) scores. This relationship remained robust even when controlling for SAT-Verbal scores, suggesting a small but specific relationship between our primitive sense for number and formal mathematical abilities.