Counting with or without fingers: The specific role of fingers in improving addition skills in preschoolers

Training kindergarteners to count on their fingers has been shown to improve their performance in addition. However, it remains unclear whether these benefits depend specifically on the finger dimension of the training program or more generally on its counting dimension. This study addresses this question in a sample of 190 preschoolers aged 4-5 years. Two training settings, finger counting and counting on a number line, were compared to a business-as-usual condition. The results first show that the positive effect of finger counting training observed in kindergarteners extends to preschoolers. Critically, finger counting led to greater improvement in children's addition performance than counting on a number line training, which did not produce significant gains. These findings, indicating that the finger dimension plays a central role in supporting children's arithmetic skills, are discussed in the context of the embodied cognition framework.