Date of Award

5-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Honors Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Karina Hamamouche

Second Advisor

Catherine Pangan

Abstract

While many studies find a relation between symbolic and nonsymbolic numerical abilities (e.g., Chen & Li, 2014), whether this relation is causal has been questioned. For example, does learning symbols refine nonsymbolic abilities (i.e., Refinement Hypothesis)? One study found that as children gained proficiency in their verbal counting abilities, their nonsymbolic numerical acuity increased (Shusterman et al., 2016), thus supporting the Refinement Hypothesis. As studies have found similar processing for numerical and temporal abilities (e.g., Walsh, 2003) and a similar relation between symbolic and nonsymbolic timing abilities has been found (e.g., Hamamouche & Cordes, 2020), it begs the question of whether learning temporal symbols also refines nonsymbolic timing abilities. Thus far, one study has investigated the idea of refinement in the domain of time. However, the experimental manipulation did not mimic the way in which temporal symbols are traditionally taught in formal education. In the present study, we observed the nonsymbolic timing abilities of 7–8-year-olds (n = 38) before and after formal instruction on temporal symbols. Participants completed numerical and temporal discrimination tasks (measuring nonsymbolic numerical and temporal abilities) and a Temporal Symbols Questionnaire (measuring symbolic timing; modeled after Hamamouche & Cordes, 2020) before and after their curriculum’s unit on temporal symbols. We hypothesized that learning temporal symbols in school will lead to better performance on the Temporal Symbols Questionnaire at post-test. It was also hypothesized that the introduction of formal timing symbols will lead to the refinement of nonsymbolic timing abilities when controlling for age and numerical abilities. No significant difference was found between results in both Time 1 and 2 for the temporal discrimination and numerical discrimination tasks. However, data showed a significant increase in the understanding of symbolic time through the Temporal Symbols Questionnaire suggesting that an in-depth education on time improves symbolic abilities. In addition, we found that the use of timing activities at home and the knowledge of words related to time were both significantly correlated with performance on the Time 1 Temporal Symbols Questionnaire, demonstrating a potential relationship between preexposure to time and symbolic abilities. No significant results were found in support of the Refinement Hypothesis in the domain of time.

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