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Updated: Mar 3, 2026

Multimedia Battery for Assessment of Cognitive and Basic Skills in Mathematics BM-PROMA
Published on: August 28, 2021
Using cognitive training studies to unravel the mechanisms by which the approximate number system supports symbolic
Stephanie Bugden1, Nicholas K DeWind1, Elizabeth M Brannon1
1Brannon Laboratory, Psychology Department, University of Pennsylvania, 425 S, University Avenue, Room 305, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6018, USA.
Abstract:
A picture is emerging that preverbal nonsymbolic numerical representations derived from the approximate number system (ANS) play an important role in mathematical development and sustained mathematical thinking. Functional imaging studies are revealing developmental trends in how the brain represents number. We propose that combining behavioral and neuroimaging techniques with cognitive training approaches will help identify the fundamental relationship between the ANS and symbolic mathematics. Understanding this relationship should ultimately benefit educators by providing ways to harness the ANS and hopefully improve math readiness in young children.
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