Language and number: a bilingual training study

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Psycholinguistics
• Neuroscience of Language

Background:

• Human numerical cognition is thought to be influenced by language.
• The precise role of specific languages in representing numerical information remains unclear.
• Bilingualism offers a unique lens to study language-dependent cognitive processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether a specific language influences the representation of exact and approximate numerical information.
• To determine if language of training affects the learning and retrieval of numerical and non-numerical facts.
• To explore the implications of language's role in numerical cognition for bilingual education and human cognitive development.

Main Methods:

• Three experiments were conducted with Russian-English bilingual college students.
• Participants learned new numerical operations, arithmetic equations, or factual information in one of their languages.
• Knowledge retrieval and problem-solving were tested in both languages for trained and new items.

Main Results:

• Exact number information was retrieved more effectively in the language of training.
• Trained numerical problems were solved more effectively than untrained ones.
• Approximate number facts and non-numerical information were retrieved with equal efficiency in both languages, with training generalizing to new facts.

Conclusions:

• Specific natural languages contribute to the representation of large, exact numbers, but not to approximate number representations shared with other mammals.
• Language plays a significant role in learning exact numbers across various contexts.
• Findings suggest language's role in developing uniquely human cognitive abilities and have implications for bilingual education.