Article Version of Record

You can count on your fingers: The role of fingers in early mathematical development

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Soylu, Firat
Lester, Frank K.
Newman, Sharlene D.

Abstract / Description

Even though mathematics is considered one of the most abstract domains of human cognition, recent work on embodiment of mathematics has shown that we make sense of mathematical concepts by using insights and skills acquired through bodily activity. Fingers play a significant role in many of these bodily interactions. Finger-based interactions provide the preliminary access to foundational mathematical constructs, such as one-to-one correspondence and whole-part relations in early development. In addition, children across cultures use their fingers to count and do simple arithmetic. There is also some evidence for an association between children’s ability to individuate fingers (finger gnosis) and mathematics ability. Paralleling these behavioral findings, there is accumulating evidence for overlapping neural correlates and functional associations between fingers and number processing. In this paper, we synthesize mathematics education and neurocognitive research on the relevance of fingers for early mathematics development. We delve into issues such as how the early multimodal (tactile, motor, visuospatial) experiences with fingers might be the gateway for later numerical skills, how finger gnosis, finger counting habits, and numerical abilities are associated at the behavioral and neural levels, and implications for mathematics education. We argue that, taken together, the two bodies of research can better inform how different finger skills support the development of numerical competencies, and we provide a road map for future interdisciplinary research that can yield to development of diagnostic tools and interventions for preschool and primary grade classrooms.

Keyword(s)

cognitive development numerical cognition finger counting finger gnosis embodied cognition neuroscience mathematics education

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2018-06-07

Journal title

Journal of Numerical Cognition

Volume

4

Issue

1

Page numbers

107–135

Publisher

PsychOpen GOLD

Publication status

publishedVersion

Review status

peerReviewed

Is version of

Citation

Soylu, F., Lester, F. K., & Newman, S. D. (2018). You can count on your fingers: The role of fingers in early mathematical development. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 4(1), 107–135. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v4i1.85
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Soylu, Firat
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Lester, Frank K.
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Newman, Sharlene D.
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2018-11-21T11:42:54Z
  • Made available on
    2018-11-21T11:42:54Z
  • Date of first publication
    2018-06-07
  • Abstract / Description
    Even though mathematics is considered one of the most abstract domains of human cognition, recent work on embodiment of mathematics has shown that we make sense of mathematical concepts by using insights and skills acquired through bodily activity. Fingers play a significant role in many of these bodily interactions. Finger-based interactions provide the preliminary access to foundational mathematical constructs, such as one-to-one correspondence and whole-part relations in early development. In addition, children across cultures use their fingers to count and do simple arithmetic. There is also some evidence for an association between children’s ability to individuate fingers (finger gnosis) and mathematics ability. Paralleling these behavioral findings, there is accumulating evidence for overlapping neural correlates and functional associations between fingers and number processing. In this paper, we synthesize mathematics education and neurocognitive research on the relevance of fingers for early mathematics development. We delve into issues such as how the early multimodal (tactile, motor, visuospatial) experiences with fingers might be the gateway for later numerical skills, how finger gnosis, finger counting habits, and numerical abilities are associated at the behavioral and neural levels, and implications for mathematics education. We argue that, taken together, the two bodies of research can better inform how different finger skills support the development of numerical competencies, and we provide a road map for future interdisciplinary research that can yield to development of diagnostic tools and interventions for preschool and primary grade classrooms.
    en_US
  • Publication status
    publishedVersion
  • Review status
    peerReviewed
  • Citation
    Soylu, F., Lester, F. K., & Newman, S. D. (2018). You can count on your fingers: The role of fingers in early mathematical development. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 4(1), 107–135. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v4i1.85
    en_US
  • ISSN
    2363-8761
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1287
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1479
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychOpen GOLD
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.v4i1.85
  • Keyword(s)
    cognitive development
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    numerical cognition
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    finger counting
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    finger gnosis
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    embodied cognition
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    neuroscience
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    mathematics education
    en_US
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    You can count on your fingers: The role of fingers in early mathematical development
    en_US
  • DRO type
    article
  • Issue
    1
  • Journal title
    Journal of Numerical Cognition
  • Page numbers
    107–135
  • Volume
    4
  • Visible tag(s)
    Version of Record