Guillaume, M. , Nys, J. & Content, A.
Laboratoire Cognition, Langage et Développement. Université Libre de Bruxelles. Brussels, Belgium.
In the field of numerical cognition, the acuity of the number sense has been associated with overall arithmetic performance from childhood to adulthood. Therefore, choosing an efficient and elaborate strategy during arithmetic processing might be facilitated by a more accurate number sense. In this study, we investigate the potential influence of the number sense on strategic choice and its relation to mathematical expertise. We set up an experiment composed of one complex addition resolution task and one non-symbolic comparison task. Participants were either Engineering or Psychology students. During the arithmetic task, they were asked to verbalize the strategy they used to solve each addition. Individual Weber fractions were computed from their performance in the comparison task as estimates of number sense acuity. Our results revealed that Engineering participants were more accurate in the comparison task than Psychology students. As for the strategic aspect, overall, the utilization of more elaborate calculation strategies was associated with higher comparison acuity. Moreover, Engineering students referred to memory retrieval to a greater extent and used more elaborate strategies than Psychology students did. Taken together, these results suggest that number sense accuracy is related to mathematical expertise and to the use of more elaborate strategies.