Recent evidence suggests that using finger-based strategies is beneficial for the acquisition of basic numerical skills. There are basically two finger-based strategies to be distinguished: (a) finger counting (i.e., extending single fingers successively) and (b) finger number gesturing (i.e., extending fingers simultaneously to represent magnitudes). In this study, we investigated both spontaneous and prompted finger counting and finger number gesturing as well as their contribution to basic numerical skills in 3- to 5-year-olds (N = 156). Results revealed that only 6% of children spontaneously used their fingers for counting when asked to name a specific number of animals, whereas 59% applied finger number gesturing to show their age. This indicates that the spontaneous use of finger-based strategies depends heavily on the specific context. Moreover, children performed significantly better in prompted finger counting than in finger number gesturing, suggesting that both strategies build on each other. Finally, both prompted finger counting and finger number gesturing significantly and individually predicted counting, cardinal number knowledge, and basic arithmetic. These results indicate that finger counting and finger number gesturing follow and positively relate to numerical development.

Numerical cognition might be embodied, that is, grounded in bodily actions. This claim is supported by the observation that, potentially due to our shared biology, finger counting is prevalent among a variety of cultures. Differences in finger counting are apparent even within Western cultures. Relatively few indigenous cultures have been systematically analyzed in terms of traditional finger counting and montring (i.e., communicating numbers with fingers) routines. Even fewer studies used the same protocols across cultures, allowing for a systematic comparison of indigenous and Western finger counting routines. We analyze the finger counting and montring routines of Tsimane\' (N = 121), an indigenous people living in the Bolivian Amazon rainforest, depending on handedness, education level, and exposure to mainstream, industrialized Bolivian culture. Tsimane\' routines are compared with those of German and British participants. Tsimane\' reveal a greater variation in finger counting and montring routines, which seems to be modified by their education level. We outline a framework on how different factors such as handedness and reading direction might affect cross-cultural and within-cultural variation in finger counting.