The development and assessment of early cardinal-number concepts

Supplementary materials [researchData] to: Baroody, A. J., Mix, K. S., Kartal, G., & Lai, M.-l. (2023). The development and assessment of early cardinal-number concepts. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 9(1), 182–195. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.10035

Number-recognition tasks, such as the how-many task, involve set-to-word mapping, and number-creation tasks, such as the give-n task, entail word-to-set mapping. The present study involved comparing sixty 3-year-olds’ performance on the two tasks with collections of one to three items over three time points about 3 weeks apart. Inconsistent with the sparse evidence indicating equivalent task performance, an omnibus test indicated that success differed significantly by task (and set size but not by time). A follow-up analysis indicated that the hypothesis that success emerges first on the how-many task was generally significantly superior to the hypothesis of simultaneous development. It further indicated this how-many-first hypothesis was superior to a give-n-first hypothesis for sets of three. A theoretical implication is that set-to-word mapping appears to develop before word-to-set mapping, especially in the case of three. A methodological implication is that the give-n task may underestimate a key aspect of children’s cardinal understanding of small numbers. Another is that the traditional give-n, which requires checking an initial response by 1-to-1 counting, confounds pre-counting and counting competencies.