Avoid basing mathematics assessments and interventions on dot comparison tasks; prefer comparison formats without salient visual cues¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 5 claims (5 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Because the dot comparison task's correlation with mathematics achievement appears to reflect inhibition demands, the authors conclude that "efforts to integrate dot comparison tasks into mathematical assessment and intervention may therefore be inappropriate". They point to alternative comparison formats that lessen the inhibition load, such as cross-modal tone-versus-dot comparison and second-order visual motion displays in which visual characteristics are unrelated to number, and suggest performance on such tasks "might be unrelated to mathematics skill".

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Assessment or intervention designs that currently embed dot comparison tasks would need to adopt comparison formats in which salient continuous-quantity cues cannot be used

Constraints¶

• It has yet to be established whether performance on these alternative comparison tasks is related to mathematical achievement

Target Learners¶

• children aged 4-11 years
• school-aged children from diverse socio-economic backgrounds

Target Learning Goals¶

• valid measurement of nonsymbolic number skills in mathematics assessment and intervention

Affordances¶

• Inhibition Account Of Dot Comparison Performance

Claims¶

• The correlation between dot comparison performance and children's mathematics achievement is driven by incongruent, not congruent, trials [+W]
• Incongruent dot comparison trials are less accurate and slower than congruent trials, consistent with an added inhibition step [+W]
• Dot comparison performance no longer predicts mathematics achievement once inhibition skill is accounted for, but inhibition explains variance over and above dot comparison [+W]
• Reanalysis of previously-published data replicates the incongruent-trial pattern in children, with a marginal effect in adults [+W]
• Smaller response-time differences between incongruent and congruent trials (better inhibition) correlate with higher mathematics scores [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Gilmore C, Attridge N, Clayton S, Cragg L, Johnson S, Marlow N, Simms V, Inglis M. (2013). Individual Differences in Inhibitory Control, Not Non-Verbal Number Acuity, Correlate with Mathematics Achievement. PLoS ONE 8(6): e67374. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0067374