Relationship between Spatial and Number Development: Spatial Location Knowledge Strongly Predicts Numerical Skills of Preschoolers than Mental Rotation

Relationship between Spatial and Number Development: Spatial Location Knowledge Strongly Predicts Numerical Skills of Preschoolers than Mental Rotation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Relationship between Spatial and Number Development: Spatial Location Knowledge Strongly Predicts Numerical Skills of Preschoolers than Mental Rotation Hüseyin Yalçıner, Dilay Z. Karadöller This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7636510/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Space helps clarify abstract mathematical symbols such as “+” or “-” signs and understand concepts used in mathematics. Many studies demonstrate the predictive role of spatial skills (mental rotation, spatial visualization, and spatial perception) in math development. However, these spatial skills do not fully represent spatial thinking, even though they capture a significant portion. Another critical portion of spatial thinking is spatial language, which involves understanding and describing an object’s different spatial features. The relationship between spatial language and math development remains overlooked despite the significance of spatial words used to produce number words. This study investigated the association between preschoolers’ spatial language, mental rotation, and several mathematical abilities. Results show a significant relationship between spatial language and both symbolic math and counting abilities, either in isolation or interaction with mental rotation. Specifically, location production skills, rather than comprehension, significantly predicted math performance. However, mental rotation alone does not predict any math skills. Overall, these results align with findings that spatial language and numbers are closely related to each other and add to the literature suggesting that our mental architecture for processing numbers is closely related to our interaction with spatial locations. Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing Biological sciences/Neuroscience Biological sciences/Psychology Social science/Psychology number development spatial skills spatial language mental rotation preschoolers Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7636510","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":517524984,"identity":"6600b7dd-216e-4b8c-8f1f-8f8d6c847a79","order_by":0,"name":"Hüseyin Yalçıner","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Middle East Technical University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hüseyin","middleName":"","lastName":"Yalçıner","suffix":""},{"id":517524986,"identity":"0c931418-b584-42f0-863a-fcf20c33dc63","order_by":1,"name":"Dilay Z. 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Many studies demonstrate the predictive role of spatial skills (mental rotation, spatial visualization, and spatial perception) in math development. However, these spatial skills do not fully represent spatial thinking, even though they capture a significant portion. Another critical portion of spatial thinking is spatial language, which involves understanding and describing an object\u0026rsquo;s different spatial features. The relationship between spatial language and math development remains overlooked despite the significance of spatial words used to produce number words. This study investigated the association between preschoolers\u0026rsquo; spatial language, mental rotation, and several mathematical abilities. Results show a significant relationship between spatial language and both symbolic math and counting abilities, either in isolation or interaction with mental rotation. 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