Mechanisms underlying transfer from domain-specific and domain-general cognitive training to children's math skills

Early math achievement predicts later outcomes. Individual differences in the precision of approximate representations of number and the mapping between nonsymbolic and symbolic number representations predict math achievement; honing these representations improves math skills. The goal of this registered report is to disentangle the potential mechanisms of transfer. Three hundred and nineteen 4- to 6-year-old children in 26 publicly funded classrooms in a non-urban county in the Northeastern United States were assigned to a tablet-based, teacher-facilitated training designed to target the approximate number system, symbolic number skills, or executive function. Executive function training improved math more than symbolic number training; the differences were attributable to improvement in symbolic number skills. There were no differences between executive function and approximate number training. The results suggest that supporting ancillary skills may bolster early mathematical skills.