The association between spatial and mathematical skills: the role of the mental number line (MNL)

Background Decades of research on numerical cognition have demonstrated that individuals with strong spatial skills tend to be high math achievers. Furthermore, recent studies have indicated that spatial ability is malleable, implying that interventions designed to enhance mathematical learning can be modelled through spatial skill-related tasks. However, the precise mechanism underlying the association between spatial and mathematical skills has yet to be fully understood. An emerging spatial representation theory, tested among children, proposes that the mental number line (MNL), a fundamental cognitive representation underlying the spatial representation of numbers, could be a potential mechanism for the strong link between spatial and mathematical skills. This dissertation investigated the validity of the spatial representation theory among adults by conducting three independent studies that examined various aspects of the theory. Study 1 explored the relationship between spatial skills and mathematics in adults and the mediating role of the MNL. Studies 2 and 3 posited that, given the spatial representation theory, would spatial anxiety predict mathematical skills, and if so, would such a relationship be mediated by the MNL? Method Ninety-two (92) undergraduate students completed assessments of their mental rotation, spatial visualization, Bounded Number Line (BNL) and Unbounded Number Line estimation tasks (UNL), general cognitive ability, and four math areas in study 1. One hundred and twenty-two (122) undergraduate students were tested on their spatial skills, spatial and math anxieties, BNL, and four mathematical domains in study 2. Finally, in study 3, two hundred and twenty-one (221) adults were tested on their spatial skills, spatial and math anxieties, UNL and BNL, and four mathematical domains. Results The result indicated that after controlling for general cognitive ability, MNL mediated the relationship between spatial and mathematical skills in adults. However, in contrast to findings among children, the UNL estimation appeared to play a more significant role in this relationship. The result also revealed that spatial anxiety significantly predicted mathematical skills and that the UNL mediated this relationship, even after controlling for general and math anxieties. Overall, the results of the dissertation supported the spatial representation theory, but with some modification. The theoretical and educational implications of these findings are further discussed in Chapter 5.