摘要：Background. Embodied finger counting has been shown to have cross-cultural differencesin previous studies (Lindemann, Alipour, & Fisher, 2011; Soto & Lalain, 2008).However, their results were contradictory in reference to Western populations with regardto the hand preferred: The first study showed that in Western countries — Europeand the United States — participants preferred to start with the left hand (whereas in theMiddle East — Iran — they used the right hand); the second study showed that participantsin France preferred the right hand.Objective. Our study aimed to observe these differences in two countries, Spain(Western Europe) and Russia (Eastern Europe part), although taking into account thevariety of cultural or ethnic groups who live there.Design. The observational/descriptive study, together with correlational analysis ofthe finger-counting pattern (from 1 to 10) used by children aged 10 to 12 who had notbeen taught to use their fingers for counting, considered factors of cultural origin andhand dominance. The possible effects of this action on cognition — in our case, mathachievement — were considered also.Results and conclusion. The differences in the frequency of the finger-counting patternsmight suggest cultural-individual differences in performance; however, the correlationalanalysis did not reveal that these differences were statistically significant, either forgender or for mark in math. However, hand dominance was a significant predictor of thepreferred hand with which to start counting.
关键词：embodied numerosity; finger counting; cross-cultural research; individual;differences; hand dominance
