Development of Enumeration Processes for Kindergarten Children: Evidence From Eye-Tracking Data.

Several parameters can influence children's enumeration processes, including the numerosity and configuration of the elements. Few studies have examined young children's enumeration from a developmental perspective, especially using eye-tracking data, highlighting the novelty of the present study. E...

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Published in:Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue Canadienne de Psychologie Expérimentale Vol. 80; no. 3; pp. 171 - 188
Main Authors: Frède, Valérie, Paubel, Pierre-Vincent, Charras, Pom
Format: Article
Published: Canadian Psychological Association Sep2026
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      dt: Sep2026
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      pub: Canadian Psychological Association
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        10.1037/cep0000398
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        atl: Development of Enumeration Processes for Kindergarten Children: Evidence From Eye-Tracking Data.
      aug:
        au:
          Frède, Valérie
          Paubel, Pierre-Vincent
          Charras, Pom
        affil:
          Laboratoire Cognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie, UMR5263, Université de Toulouse-Jean Jaurès
          Département de Psychologie, Laboratoire EPSYLON EA 4556, Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3
      su:
        Human services programs
        Task performance
        Evaluation of human services programs
        Learning
        Attention
        Child development
        Child behavior
        Cognition
        Children
        Repeated measures design
        Mathematics
        Data analysis
        Questionnaires
        Eye movement measurements
        Descriptive statistics
        Research methodology
        Statistics
        Comparative studies
        Data analysis software
        Calibration
        Learning strategies
        Visual perception
        Reaction time
        Eye movements
        Regression analysis
      sug:
        subj:
          Human services programs
          Task performance
          Evaluation of human services programs
          Learning
          Attention
          Child development
          Child behavior
          Cognition
          Children
          Repeated measures design
          Mathematics
          Data analysis
          Questionnaires
          Eye movement measurements
          Descriptive statistics
          Research methodology
          Statistics
          Comparative studies
          Data analysis software
          Calibration
          Learning strategies
          Visual perception
          Reaction time
          Eye movements
          Regression analysis
      keyword:
        configuration
        enumeration
        kindergarten children
        subitizing
        dénombrement
        enfants de maternelle
        subitisation
        configuration
        enumeration
        kindergarten children
        subitizing
        dénombrement
        enfants de maternelle
        subitisation
      ab: Several parameters can influence children's enumeration processes, including the numerosity and configuration of the elements. Few studies have examined young children's enumeration from a developmental perspective, especially using eye-tracking data, highlighting the novelty of the present study. Eye movements analysis can indeed give crucial information to understand in depth the construction of enumeration processes in childhood. In this study, we analyzed how kindergarten pupils enumerated elements displayed on a computer screen and how far their responses were influenced by their age and three other parameters, namely, the numerosity, configuration, and colour of the elements. Behavioural measures were combined with eye tracking to gain detailed insights into visual attention patterns during enumeration tasks. Results revealed a strong effect of configuration on enumeration. Errors were more frequent and response times longer with random arrangements versus dice configurations. Five-year-olds performed better on enumeration tasks than 4-year-olds when the elements were in random arrangements and in the counting range. Eye-tracking data confirmed behavioural results and revealed additionally that visual attention was more uniformly distributed across all the dots and associated with longer scan paths when these dots were displayed in random arrangements versus dice configurations. These findings suggest that structured configurations may reduce cognitive load by supporting pattern recognition, thereby improving children's efficiency in enumeration tasks. Our results support the assumption that pattern recognition plays a fundamental role in the acquisition of enumeration abilities and that young children use qualitatively different enumeration processes for small numerosities depending on the configuration of the elements.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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