Left Digit Effects in Numerical Estimation across Development

ABSTRACT Number line estimation (NLE) tasks are widely used to investigate numerical cognition, learning, and development, and as an instructional tool. Interpretation of these tasks generally involves an implicit expectation that responses are driven by the overall magnitudes of target numerals, in the sense that the particular digits conveying those magnitudes are unimportant. However, recent evidence shows that numbers with similar magnitudes but different leftmost digits are estimated very differently. For example, “798” is placed systematically much too far to the left of “801” in a 0–1000 NLE task by children aged 7–11 and adults. Here we ask whether this left digit effect generalizes to two-digit numerals in a 0–100 NLE task and whether it emerges in younger children. Children aged 5–8 (Study 1, N = 73), adults (Study 2, N = 44), and children aged 9–11 (Study 3, N = 27) completed a standard 0–100 NLE task on a touchscreen tablet. We observed left digit effects for two-digit numerals in children aged 8–11 and adults, with large effect sizes, demonstrating that these effects generalize to smaller numerical ranges. Left digit effects were not apparent in 5- to 7-year-olds, suggesting that these effects do not emerge at younger ages for smaller, more familiar numerical ranges. We discuss developmental emergence of left digit effects in number line estimation and implications within and beyond the field of cognitive development.