Figure 1.

A) A visual illustration of the triple-code theory of number representation. Numbers can be represented with three formats—names, digits or quantity. These formats can be directly converted to each other. B) Overview of the five experiments. Experiment 1 used a between-subject design and Experiment 2 used a within-subject design to compare children’s ability to 1) map names for large (2 and 3 digits) numbers to written digits and 2) to map names to dot arrays. The formats being tested are the conversion from names to digits and the conversion from names to quantities respectively. Experiment 3 and 4 used between- and within-subject designs to examine children’s ability to compare 1) the relative magnitudes of large quantities given written multi-digit numbers or 2) the relative magnitudes of large quantities given dot arrays of those same quantities. The formats being tested are digits and quantities. Experiment 5 provides evidence on the link between children’s ability to 1) map number names to written digits and 2) their ability to make magnitude judgments given written representations of quantities. The formats being tested are the conversion from names to digits and digits alone.