Visual sustained attention and numerosity sensitivity correlate with math achievement in children

Anobile, Giovanni; Stievano, Paolo; Burr, David C. · 2013 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2013.06.006

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Summary

This study investigates the relationship between visual sustained attention, numerosity sensitivity, and mathematical achievement in school-age children. Motivated by established links between attention and reading acquisition, the authors sought to determine if similar mechanisms underpin math skills. Specifically, they examined whether individual variability in visual attention and non-symbolic numerical perception predicts formal math performance, independent of general cognitive factors. The researchers tested 68 typically developing children aged 8 to 11 years. Participants completed a battery of psychophysical and neuropsychological tasks. Visual sustained attention was measured using a multiple object tracking task, where children tracked four targets among seven distractors. Numerosity sensitivity was assessed via two tasks: a discrimination task measuring Weber fractions (number acuity) and a non-symbolic number line mapping task measuring spatial representation of quantity. Math achievement was evaluated using a standardized Italian battery covering arithmetic, magnitude comparison, and memory retrieval, which was reduced via principal component analysis into "conceptual" and "magnitude-oriented" factors. Reading accuracy and nonverbal IQ were also measured as control variables. The results demonstrated that visual sustained attention, numerosity discrimination, and number line mapping all correlated significantly with total math scores, but not with reading accuracy. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that these correlations persisted after controlling for age, gender, nonverbal IQ, and reading accuracy. However, when all control variables were simultaneously accounted for, only visual sustained attention remained a significant predictor of total math scores. Further analysis of math sub-components showed that all three perceptual measures correlated with the "magnitude-oriented" factor (involving magnitude processing) but not the "conceptual" factor (involving memory and automatized skills). Additionally, numerosity discrimination precision strongly correlated with attentional performance, even after controlling for age and intelligence. These findings indicate that visual sustained attention and numerosity sensitivity are specific predictors of mathematical achievement, particularly for magnitude-based processing, rather than general cognitive abilities. The lack of correlation with reading suggests that visual attention specifically supports numerical cognition. The study implies that attentional deficits may contribute to developmental dyscalculia and highlights the distinct role of visual attention in the acquisition of math skills compared to literacy.

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