Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Finger gnosis, the ability to mentally represent one’s fingers, predicts numeracy in children (Penner-Wilger et al.,2007, 2009) and adults (Penner-Wilger et al., 2014, 2015). It has been argued that the relation may reflect visuo-spatial memory,rather than finger gnosis ability per se. This rival hypothesis was not supported in adults (Penner-Wilger et al., 2015), but herewe examined it in children, using both a novel set of Grade 1 participants (N = 119) and a separate set previously reportedon (Penner-Wilger et al., 2007, 2009; N=146). In multiple regressions, for each set of participants, finger gnosis significantlypredicted numeracy skills, measured using the KeyMath Numeration subtest. Moreover, the relation between finger gnosis andnumeracy held for both sets of participants, despite controlling for visuo-spatial memory, measured using a Corsi-block test.These findings suggest that the relation between finger gnosis and numeracy is robust and does not reflect visuo-spatial memory.