Linking sensorimotor skills and finger use to arithmetic development: A latent growth modeling approach

Although finger sensorimotor skills, such as finger gnosia and fine motor skills (FMS), are crucial for arithmetic development, the processes underlying this relationship remain poorly understood. This study examined the functionalist hypothesis by investigating longitudinal associations between finger sensorimotor skills, finger-based strategies, and arithmetic developmental trajectories. The predictive value of developmental changes in sensorimotor skills on arithmetic development and the possible mediating role of finger use in this relationship were also explored. Seventy-four 6-year-old children were assessed four times between the beginning of Grade 1 and the end of Grade 2. At each assessment time point, participants completed tasks evaluating their general cognitive abilities, arithmetic skills, finger gnosia and FMS. Using latent growth modelling, researchers found that the variance in the intercept of finger gnosia was a key predictor of arithmetic development, even when fluid reasoning was controlled for. Conversely, neither the variance of the FMS intercept nor its slope significantly predicted arithmetic development. Latent growth modelling failed to show that effective finger use during calculation was a predictor of the development of arithmetic skills. The present findings do not provide evidence that the relationship between finger gnosia and arithmetic is kinesthetic in nature in this developmental time window.