Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 6, 2025

Multimedia Battery for Assessment of Cognitive and Basic Skills in Mathematics BM-PROMA
Published on: August 28, 2021
The relationship between numerosity perception and mathematics ability in adults: the moderating role of dots number
Background:
It has been proposed that numerosity perception is the cognitive underpinning of mathematics ability. However, the existence of the association between numerosity perception and mathematics ability is still under debate, especially in adults. The present study examined the relationship between numerosity perception and mathematics ability and the moderating role of dots number (i.e., the numerosity of items in dot set) in adults.
Methods:
Sixty-four adult participants from Anshun University completed behavioral measures that tested numerosity perception of small numbers and large numbers, mathematics ability, inhibition ability, visual-spatial memory, and set-switching ability.
Results:
We found that numerosity perception of small numbers correlated significantly with mathematics ability after controlling the influence of inhibition ability, visual-spatial memory, and set-switching ability, but numerosity perception of large numbers was not related to mathematics ability in adults.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that the dots number moderates the relationship between numerosity perception and mathematics ability in adults and may contribute to explaining the contradictory findings in the previous literature about the link between numerosity perception and mathematics ability.
Related Concept Videos
Piaget's Stage 3 of Cognitive Development
Conservation and Constancy of Quantity
A significant cognitive milestone in the...
Numerical Calculations
The solution to a problem is obtained using different methods. While manually solving algebraic symbols is one of the most common methods, the graphical method is often preferred. Computers...
How Data are Classified: Numerical Data
Quantitative data may be either discrete or continuous. All quantitative data that take on only specific numerical...
Significant Figures in Calculations
Nominal Level of Measurement
The data that cannot be measured but can be grouped into categories fall under the nominal level of measurement. Data that is measured using a nominal...
Coordination Number and Geometry

