Document Type

Article - postprint

Program

Psychology (Pitzer)

Publication Date

7-2006

Keywords

Perception, Infants, Mental arithmetic

Abstract

Two studies of 5-month-old infants explored whether a phenomenon reported by K. Wynn (1992) reflects a familiarity preference instead of a mathematical competence. Experiment 1 was a conceptual replication of Wynn's study. When data were analyzed with the relatively liberal statistical approach used by Wynn, the original phenomenon was replicated. However, an analysis of variance revealed that girls and boys behaved in different ways, and that boys did not behave as Wynn would have predicted. Experiment 2 was identical to Experiment 1, with one exception that should not have influenced computation: Infants in this study were completely familiarized with the test displays before testing. Again, the data revealed an interaction involving sex: Boys tended to be influenced by their familiarity with the test displays, whereas girls tended to behave as Wynn would have predicted. These findings are discussed with reference to the literature on sex differences--specifically the finding that male infants are typically immature relative to their female peers--as well as to articles that have been critical or supportive of Wynn's conclusions.

Comments

Please note that more information about and further articles from Developmental Psychology are available through the American Psychological Association at http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=browsePA.volumes&jcode=dev.

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/dev/42/4/666/

The content of this open-access post-print article is the same as that contained in the published article with the following reference:

Moore, D. S. & Cocas, L. A. (2006). Perception precedes computation: Can familiarity preferences explain apparent calculation by human babies? Developmental Psychology, 42, 666 – 678.

Rights Information

© 2006 American Psychological Association

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