Functional magnetic resonance imaging study of Piaget’s conservation-of-number task in preschool and school-age children: A neo-Piagetian approach
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2011-11-01; 110(3): 332-346
DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2011.04.008
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1. J Exp Child Psychol. 2011 Nov;110(3):332-46. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2011.04.008.
Epub 2011 Jun 1.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging study of Piaget’s conservation-of-number
task in preschool and school-age children: a neo-Piagetian approach.
Houdé O(1), Pineau A, Leroux G, Poirel N, Perchey G, Lanoë C, Lubin A, Turbelin
MR, Rossi S, Simon G, Delcroix N, Lamberton F, Vigneau M, Wisniewski G, Vicet JR,
Mazoyer B.
Author information:
(1)Centre for Imaging Neurosciences and Applications to PathologieS (CI-NAPS),
CNRS, Universities of Caen and Paris Descartes (Alliance for Higher Education and
Research Sorbonne Paris Cité), 75005 Paris, France.
Jean Piaget’s theory is a central reference point in the study of
logico-mathematical development in children. One of the most famous Piagetian
tasks is number conservation. Failures and successes in this task reveal two
fundamental stages in children’s thinking and judgment, shifting at approximately
7 years of age from visuospatial intuition to number conservation. In the current
study, preschool children (nonconservers, 5-6 years of age) and school-age
children (conservers, 9-10 years of age) were presented with Piaget’s
conservation-of-number task and monitored by functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI). The cognitive change allowing children to access conservation was
shown to be related to the neural contribution of a bilateral parietofrontal
network involved in numerical and executive functions. These fMRI results
highlight how the behavioral and cognitive stages Piaget formulated during the
20th century manifest in the brain with age.
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2011.04.008
PMID: 21636095 [Indexed for MEDLINE]