Subjects: Other Disciplines >> Synthetic discipline submitted time 2023-10-09 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： The effect of fine motor skills, a foundational motor skill in early childhood, on mathematical ability has been inconsistent in previous studies. Some studies suggest that it has a positive effect on mathematical ability, while others suggest that it has a negative effect on mathematical ability. Some factors may potentially influence the role of fine motor skills in mathematical ability. Given the inconsistency of existing studies, this study used a meta-analysis approach to examine the effect of fine motor skills on mathematical ability and the role of moderating variables in this relationship by integrating relevant empirical studies of the past 30 years. This study used three Chinese databases, including China Knowledge Network, Wanfang, and Weipu, and three English databases, including Web of Science, SCI database, and Google Scholar, for literature search and screening. The search terms for fine motor skills were “fine motor skills” or “finger dexterity” or “motor skills”, and the search terms for mathematical ability were “mathematical skills” or “numeracy skills” or “counting skills”, etc. By September 2022, 34 papers (33 English and 1 Chinese) with 42 independent effect sizes and a total sample size of 78,527 people were included in the study. Meta-analysis was conducted using CMA 3.0 software. Random effects model was selected according to the characteristics of the study. Heterogeneity tests showed significant heterogeneity among 42 independent effect sizes, indicating that a random effects model would be a more appropriate model to perform the meta-analysis. In addition, no significant publication bias was found in the included studies based on the results of funnel plots, loss of safety coefficients, and Egger's regression coefficients. The main effects analysis showed a moderate positive correlation between fine motor skills and mathematical ability (r = 0.27, 95% CI 0.23,0.32 ); subgroup analyses and meta-regressions indicated that the relationship was moderated by cultural background and fine motor skills measurement instruments, but not by children's age and gender. The results showed that: (1) there was a positive correlation between fine motor skills and mathematical ability, and individuals with higher level of fine motor skills developed better mathematical ability; (2) in terms of cultural background, the correlation between fine motor skills and mathematical ability was stronger in the Eastern culture than that in the Western culture; (3) there was no moderating effect observed between different gender groups, and the correlation between fine motor skills and mathematical ability might be stable across genders; (4) in terms of fine motor skills measurement, the highest correlation coefficient was obtained using the Beery VMI, while the lowest correlation coefficient was obtained using the MABC-2. This meta-analysis has both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, this study has verified that fine motor skills are closely related to mathematical ability, supporting the idea of embodied cognition theory and cognitive load theory, and initially clarified the academic debate about the relationship between fine motor skills and mathematical ability. Practically, this study suggests that educators need pay attention to the development of basic motor skills in early childhood and adopt effective fine motor skill training approaches to improve children's fine motor levels so as to promote their mathematical abilities. Future researches will focus on the standardization of fine motor skill measurement instruments, increased studies with school-age children as subjects, studies in Eastern cultural background, longitudinal studies, and experimental studies to further explore and elucidate the relationship and causal relationship between fine motor skills and mathematical ability across subject groups and cultural background.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-04-01
Abstract：
The relationship between children's fine motor skills and mathematical ability is divergent in established studies, and to clarify the overall strength of association between them and their influencing factors, meta-analysis was used to integrate and analyze relevant studies at home and abroad. Through literature search and screening, a total of 34 papers with 42 effect sizes and a total sample size of 78,527 individuals were included. Publication bias tests showed that there was no publication bias in the literature included in the meta-analysis for this study; heterogeneity tests revealed that the random effects model was selected as more appropriate. The results indicated that fine motor skills were moderately positively correlated with mathematical ability (r = 0.27, 95%CI = [0.23,0.32]); the relationship was moderated by cultural background and fine motor skills measurement instruments, but not by children's age and gender. The results suggest that educators should pay attention to the development of basic motor skills of early children, take effective training methods of fine motor skills, improve children's fine motor skills, and promote the development of their mathematical ability.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Executive function is the self-regulation of complex cognitive activities and a clear goal-oriented process, playing an important role in mathematics learning in early childhood. Executive function offers an important cognitive processing mechanism for the childhood mathematics learning. There is a mutual prediction relationship between executive function and mathematics learning. Executive function can be used to estimate mathematics achievement, and vice versa. Therefore, high quality mathematics education in early childhood may contribute to both developing children’s executive function and mathematical ability. Further research can help for clarifying the definition of executive function and unifying measurement tools. More reliable evidences are needed to prove the causal relationship between early childhood mathematics ability and executive function and further explore their relationships with languages.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Sleep problems have a significant impact on the development of preschool children's behavior, cognition, language and health, with language development being of particular concern The current paper is intended to sort out the relationship between preschool children’s sleep problems and language impairment from four perspectives: whether there is a close relationship between sleep problems and language impairment, how sleep problems affect language development, what factors influence the relationship between sleep problems and language impairment, and whether the intervention of sleep problems is effective in improving the language ability of preschool children. First, is there a close relationship between sleep problems and language impairment in preschool children? By reviewing the existing literature both at home and abroad, it is found that sleep problem is a potential factor affecting language impairment in preschool children. On the one hand, the incidence of sleep problems such as difficulty in falling asleep, lack of sleep and sleep disordered breathing in preschool children with language impairment is higher than that in normal children. On the other hand, longer sleep latency, shorter nighttime sleep and the lower sleep efficiency are closely related to more serious communication impairment, less receptive vocabulary and poorer oral expression ability of preschool children with language impairment. Secondly, how do sleep problems affect the language development of preschool children? Drawing upon the existing literature, the paper sorted out three hypotheses on the internal mechanism of sleep problems affecting language development: the sleep dependent memory consolidation hypothesis, the alertness hypothesis and the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis. These three hypotheses demonstrate how sleep problems affect language development from the perspectives of cognitive, physiological and neural mechanisms. Although self-justifying rationale is found in each hypothesis, their explanatory power and scope of application are to some extent challenged in practice. Thirdly, what factors affect the relationship between sleep problems and language disorders in preschool children? Based on the literature review, the paper finds that the relationship between sleep problems and language impairment in preschool children is affected by the severity of sleep problems, family factors, sociocultural factors, and age factors in particular. Finally, is sleep problem intervention effective in improving language impairment in preschool children? Previous studies have shown that behavioral intervention, drug treatment, surgical treatment and play-based intervention help improve the language ability of preschool children. However, it has not been testified why these sleep problem interventions are effective in promoting children's language development. Therefore, previous intervention studies only serve to explain the close correlation between preschool children's sleep problems and language impairment from another perspective, but fail to determine the causal relationship between them. In short, the previous studies both at home and abroad have explored the relationship between sleep problems and language impairment in preschool children. However, the relationship between preschool children's sleep problems and language impairment has not been determined. Many unsolved problems need to be further explored. Future research is expected to provide further insight into the internal mechanism underlying the correlation between sleep problems and language impairment, to facilitate the understanding of the relationship between sleep problems and language ability of children of different ages, and to explore effective game intervention methods in the context of inclusive education.
Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology submitted time 2021-11-08
Abstract： Sleep is an important guarantee for the healthy development of individual body and mind. Sleep problem in early childhood may have negative effect on children's behavior, cognition, language and health. Studies have shown that sleep problems such as sleep-disordered breathing, lack of sleep and difficulty in falling asleep have potential threat influence on language impairment in preschool children. Scholars have proposed sleep-dependent memory consolidation hypothesis, vigilance hypothesis and synaptic homeostasis hypothesis to explain the internal mechanism of sleep problems affecting preschool children's language development. These results provide a new idea for the early intervention of language impairment, that is, interventions such as behavior intervention, drug treatment, surgical treatment and play-based intervention can be used to improve preschool children’s language ability. Future research is expected to provide further insight into the internal mechanism underlying the correlation between sleep problems and language impairment, to facilitate the understanding of the relationship between sleep problems and language ability of children of different ages, and to explore effective game intervention methods in the context of inclusive education.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
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