The role of vision in the development of finger-number interactions: Finger-counting and finger-montring in blind children
(2011) Journal of Experimental Child Psychology — Vol. 109, n° 1, p. 525-539 (2011)
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- Abstract
- Previous research has suggested that the use of the fingers may play a functional role in the development of a mature counting system. However, the role of developmental vision in the elaboration of a fin- ger numeral representation remains unexplored. In the current study, 14 congenitally blind children and 14 matched sighted con- trols undertook three different test batteries that examined (a) gen- eral cognitive abilities, (b) the spontaneous use of finger-counting and finger-montring strategies (where ‘‘finger-montring’’ is a term used to characterize the way people raise their fingers to show num- erosities to other people), and (c) the canonicity level of the finger- counting and finger-montring habits. Compared with sighted con- trols, blind children used their fingers less spontaneously to count and in a less canonical way to count and show quantities. These results demonstrate that the absence of vision precludes the devel- opment of a typical finger numeral representation and suggest that the use of canonical finger-counting and finger-montring strategies relies on the visual recognition of particular hand shapes.
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Crollen, V., Mahe, R., Collignon, O., & Seron, X. (2011). The role of vision in the development of finger-number interactions: Finger-counting and finger-montring in blind children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 109(1), 525-539. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2011.03.011 (Original work published 2011)