Priming effects of arithmetic signs in 10‐ to 15‐year‐old children.
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| Title: | Priming effects of arithmetic signs in 10‐ to 15‐year‐old children. |
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| Authors: | Poletti, Céline, Perez, Jean‐François, Houillon, Jean‐Charles, Prado, Jérôme, Thevenot, Catherine |
| Source: | British Journal of Developmental Psychology. Sep2021, Vol. 39 Issue 3, p380-392. 13p. |
| Subjects: | Problem solving in children, Memory, Task performance, Cognition, Mathematics, Critical thinking |
| Abstract: | In this research, 10‐ to 12‐ and 13‐ to 15‐year‐old children were presented with very simple addition and multiplication problems involving operands from 1 to 4. Critically, the arithmetic sign was presented before the operands in half of the trials, whereas it was presented at the same time as the operands in the other half. Our results indicate that presenting the 'x' sign before the operands of a multiplication problem does not speed up the solving process, irrespective of the age of children. In contrast, presenting the '+' sign before the operands of an addition problem facilitates the solving process, but only in 13 to 15‐year‐old children. Such priming effects of the arithmetic sign have been previously interpreted as the result of a pre‐activation of an automated counting procedure, which can be applied as soon as the operands are presented. Therefore, our results echo previous conclusions of the literature that simple additions but not multiplications can be solved by fast counting procedures. More importantly, we show here that these procedures are possibly convoked automatically by children after the age of 13 years. At a more theoretical level, our results do not support the theory that simple additions are solved through retrieval of the answers from long‐term memory by experts. Rather, the development of expertise for mental addition would consist in an acceleration of procedures until automatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of British Journal of Developmental Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
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| Abstract: | In this research, 10‐ to 12‐ and 13‐ to 15‐year‐old children were presented with very simple addition and multiplication problems involving operands from 1 to 4. Critically, the arithmetic sign was presented before the operands in half of the trials, whereas it was presented at the same time as the operands in the other half. Our results indicate that presenting the 'x' sign before the operands of a multiplication problem does not speed up the solving process, irrespective of the age of children. In contrast, presenting the '+' sign before the operands of an addition problem facilitates the solving process, but only in 13 to 15‐year‐old children. Such priming effects of the arithmetic sign have been previously interpreted as the result of a pre‐activation of an automated counting procedure, which can be applied as soon as the operands are presented. Therefore, our results echo previous conclusions of the literature that simple additions but not multiplications can be solved by fast counting procedures. More importantly, we show here that these procedures are possibly convoked automatically by children after the age of 13 years. At a more theoretical level, our results do not support the theory that simple additions are solved through retrieval of the answers from long‐term memory by experts. Rather, the development of expertise for mental addition would consist in an acceleration of procedures until automatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 0261510X |
| DOI: | 10.1111/bjdp.12363 |
