Low and high control working memory and counting skills in children

Numerous studies have shown that working memory is a reliable predictor of children’s mathematical performance. However, the specific relationship between counting skills and WM capacity remains unclear. This study examined how domain-specific counting skills and domain-general WM resources contribute to preschool children’s understanding of counting principles and cardinality. Forty-eight children from a Colombian preschool completed tasks assessing stable-order knowledge, one-to-one correspondence, and cardinality, as well as WM measures spanning verbal, visual, and spatial modalities at both low- and high-control levels. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that knowledge of the counting sequence was the strongest and most consistent predictor of performance across tasks. One-to-one correspondence was explained primarily by children’s counting sequence knowledge, with minimal involvement of WM. By contrast, cardinal knowledge was predicted not only by sequence knowledge but also by high-control sequential verbal WM, highlighting the role of active manipulation of cardinal number words. Performance on the Counting span task was predicted mainly by age, with cardinal knowledge and WM contributing only marginally. Overall, these findings indicate that symbolic counting knowledge provides the core scaffolding for children’s developing understanding of natural numbers. • This study assessed children's counting abilities and verbal, visual, and spatial WM capacities. • Stable order and one-to-one correspondence rely minimally on working memory resources. • Cardinality requires active manipulation of verbal information in working memory. • Control demands, not modality alone, explain working memory effects. • Symbolic counting knowledge scaffolds early understanding of natural numbers.