Abstract :
Children’s ability to use their fingers in numerical contexts is assumed to contribute to the development of basic mathematical skills (Fayol & Seron, 2005; Gunderson et al., 2015). Some authors pointed to finger gnosia as a good predictor of arithmetic abilities developed some years later (Fayol, Barrouillet, & Marinthe, 1998; Noël, 2005; Penner-Wilger & Anderson, 2008) while others highlighted the relationship between manual dexterity and early numerical and arithmetical abilities (Asakawa & Sugimura, 2009, 2011, 2014; Suggate, Stoeger & Fisher, 2017). At present, the contribution of the fine motor skills to early number development has been less investigated.
The aim of this study is to examine how manual dexterity contributes to early number and arithmetical processing using 3D human motion analyses, a technique providing fine-grained measures of finger dissociation and finger coordination –two components of manual dexterity. Thirty preschoolers aged between 3 and 5 years old were tested in finger dissociation and finger coordination tasks as well as in tasks assessing early numerical and arithmetic development (i.e. reciting of numbers words, counting, number words cardinal knowledge, calculating with picture support).
The multiple regression analyses showed the predictive value of finger dexterity for cardinality and arithmetic skills while controlling for age differences. This result outline the tight relationship between fine motor skills and early mathematical abilities and suggest that finger coordination could have decisive influences on the use of finger-based strategies in support to the development of numerical concepts and early arithmetic in young children.
