Journal article
The Links Between Spatial and Math Skills in Preterm and Full-Term Children
Journal of cognition and development
03/19/2026
DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2026.2644864
Abstract
The current study investigated the link between subdomains of spatial and math skills in preschool-aged full-term and preterm-born children. We assessed 238 English-speaking children living in the United States (114 girls; 113 preterm, 125 full-term, Mage = 4.79, SD = 0.60) on their spatial (matrix reasoning, mental rotation) and math (counting, cardinality, and arithmetic assessed by addition and subtraction) skills. Regardless of neonatal status, matrix reasoning skills were related to verbal counting, cardinality, and addition performances, whereas mental rotation skills were related to subtraction performance. Among the preterm group, mental rotation was only related to subtraction skills for those with higher gestational age. These findings suggest that space-math links are mostly robust across children following different developmental trajectories, and interventions might focus on specific spatial skills to increase children's targeted math skills.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Links Between Spatial and Math Skills in Preterm and Full-Term Children
- Creators
- Begum Yilmaz - Koç UniversitySultan Karakas - Koç UniversityTilbe Goksun - Koç UniversityO. Ece Demir-Lira - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of cognition and development
- DOI
- 10.1080/15248372.2026.2644864
- ISSN
- 1524-8372
- eISSN
- 1532-7647
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- Number of pages
- 26
- Grant note
- U48 DP006389 / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation; United States Department of Health & Human Services; Centers for Disease Control & Prevention - USA R03HD102449 / Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) 220020510 / James S. McDonnell Foundation
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 03/19/2026
- Academic Unit
- Stead Family Department of Pediatrics; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Center for Social Science Innovation; Psychological and Quantitative Foundations
- Record Identifier
- 9985149627902771
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