• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.117-126
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• 2017

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate young children's nonsymbolic magnitude comparison ability according to ratio limit and task condition. Methods: The participants included 40 3-year-old children, 42 4-year-old children, and 41 5-year-old children recruited from 4 childcare centers located in Seoul, Korea. All magnitude comparison tasks were composed of image material tasks and concrete material tasks. In addition, each magnitude comparison task varied with the ratio of the two quantities; 0.5 ratio, 0.67 ratio, 0.75 ratio. Results and Conclusion: The results revealed that 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children could perform nonsymbolic magnitude comparison tasks without learning experiences. Also, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children could perform concrete material tasks better than image material tasks in nonsymbolic magnitude comparison tasks. Furthermore, children's performance on nonsymbolic magnitude comparison tasks indicated the ratio signature of the approximate number system. Children have a degree of numerical capacity prior to formal mathematics instruction. Also, children were influenced by task conditions or sense stimulus when they processed numerical information. Furthermore, the approximate number system can be used in understanding the ordinality of number.