Possible Associations between Subitizing, Estimation and Visuospatial Working Memory (VSWM) in Children

FORMOSO, JESICA; BARREYRO, JUAN PABLO; JACUBOVICH, SILVIA; INJOQUE-RICLE, IRENE

The Spanish Journal of Psychology

Cambridge University Press

Lugar: Madrid; Año: 2017 vol. 20 p. 1 - 11

Researchers have focused on identifying the mechanisms involved in subitizing and its differences with estimation. Some suggest that subitizing relies on a visual indexing system in charge of the simultaneous individuation of objects that is also used by visuospatial working memory (VSWM). In adults, studies found associations between subitizing and VSWM, in the absence of correlation between VSWM and estimation. The present study analyzed the performance of 120 4 and 6-year-old children in three tasks: dot enumeration to measure subitizing capacity, quantity discrimination for estimation, and Corsi Block-tapping task for VSWM. In the enumeration task RTs (F(9, 1062)=720.59, MSE=734394, p