When days are numbered: calendar structure and the development of calendar processing in English and Chinese

Unlike English, Chinese uses a numerical system for naming months and days. This study explored whether this difference in naming affects the development of simple calendar calculation. Eight- and 10-year-old children as well as undergraduates in China and the United States were asked to name the day or month that comes a specified time before or after a given day or month. In each age group Chinese speakers primarily used calculation based on calendar names to solve these tasks, while English speakers primarily resorted to reciting the names. The magnitude of these differences was substantial; on difficult tasks Chinese fourth graders performed at speeds comparable to those of English-speaking adults. Implications for models of how linguistic structure affects cognition are discussed.