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Abstract：
Numerous studies have consistently demonstrated the presence of the approximate number system (ANS) throughout development. Research has also revealed that visual cues may influence the ANS acuity, which may change with age. However, most studies have drawn conclusions based on performance differences between incongruent and congruent trials, which may be confounded by an individual\'s ability to inhibit interference. Therefore, to examine the developmental changes of the impact of visual cues on ANS acuity, we utilized congruent trials with varying visual cues. Our sample comprised Chinese children from grade one to grade five. We manipulated the salience of numerical cues (numerical ratio) and visual cues (dot size) in a non-symbolic numerosity comparison task. The results revealed a discernible leap in development from first to third grade and first to fifth grade; however, this upward trajectory did not persist into the transition from third to fifth grade, where no appreciable advancement was observed. Moreover, we observed different effects of visual cues on the dot-comparison task depending on the numerical cues and age. Specifically, visual cues (i.e., dot size) only facilitated ANS acuity in older school-aged children when numerical cues were weakened. The results indicate the presence of two distinct magnitude representational systems-one for the numerical dimension and another for the non-numerical dimension-during development.
摘要：
许多研究一致证明了在整个开发过程中存在近似数系统（ANS）。研究还表明，视觉线索可能会影响ANS的敏锐度，这可能会随着年龄的增长而变化。然而,大多数研究都基于不一致和一致试验之间的性能差异得出结论，这可能会被个人抑制干扰的能力所混淆。因此,为了检查视觉线索对ANS视力影响的发育变化，我们利用了具有不同视觉线索的一致试验。我们的样本包括从一年级到五年级的中国儿童。我们在非符号数字比较任务中操纵了数字提示（数字比率）和视觉提示（点大小）的显著性。结果显示，从一年级到三年级和一年级到五年级的发展有明显的飞跃；然而，这种上升轨迹并没有持续到从三年级到五年级的过渡，在那里没有观察到明显的进步。此外，根据数字线索和年龄，我们观察到视觉线索对点比较任务的不同影响。具体来说,视觉线索(即，点大小）仅在数字提示减弱时促进了年龄较大的学龄儿童的ANS敏锐度。结果表明，在开发过程中存在两个不同的幅度表示系统，一个用于数值维，另一个用于非数值维。
