Distinct domain-specific links to early symbolic mathematics: comparing numerical and geometric processing in preschoolers

Domain-general cognitive abilities are hypothesized to support symbolic mathematical performance both directly and indirectly through domain-specific processing, yet prior work has tested this framework using only numerically oriented tasks. Whether different forms of domain-specific processing show distinct indirect associations with symbolic mathematics remains unclear. This study examined 572 Chinese preschool children (M age = 66.51 months, SD = 8.07), modelling exact numerical correspondence and visual geometric-transformation tasks as parallel intermediates linking four domain-general abilities (visual-spatial skills, verbal short-term memory, verbal working memory, and sustained attention) to two symbolic outcomes (counting and story problem-solving), controlling for age, gender, and parental education and occupation. Significant indirect associations through numerical processing were found for all four cognitive ability-outcome links; no indirect association through geometric processing reached significance. Additionally, all four cognitive abilities showed significant direct associations with at least one outcome, indicating their contributions were not fully accounted for by numerical processing. These findings provide hypotheses for future longitudinal and intervention research.