Analogical mapping in numerical development

This chapter outlines the contribution of analogical thinking in numerical cognition and specifically, to number words learning and numerical estimation. We begin with an overview of number word learning, followed by a description of analogical mapping as defined by Gentner (1983, 2010), and discuss how children might acquire the meaning of counting based on analogical mapping. Next, we review the claim that very similar processes of analogical mapping may support numerical estimation, based on findings from studies of dot-array and number line estimation. These studies suggest that children’s knowledge of how the count list is structured – and in particular the ordering and distance between numbers – affects their ability to make accurate estimates. Finally, we discuss extensions of this idea to other cases where analogy has been proposed as a source of representational change. We conclude that analogical mappings enrich how humans transcend core numerical abilities to represent abstract content.