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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)

Published on: June 12, 2017

Short-term memory, working memory, and inhibitory control in children with difficulties in arithmetic problem

M C Passolunghi¹, L S Siegel

¹University of Trieste, Italy. passolu@univ.trieste.it

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

|August 21, 2001

Summary

Children struggling with math word problems show deficits in working memory and inhibitory control. This impacts their ability to ignore irrelevant information, particularly numerical data, hindering problem-solving skills.

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Multimedia Battery for Assessment of Cognitive and Basic Skills in Mathematics (BM-PROMA)

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Educational Psychology
Neuroscience

Background:

Working memory and inhibitory control are crucial for complex cognitive tasks.
Difficulties in arithmetic word problem solving may stem from underlying cognitive deficits.
Previous research suggests a link between executive functions and mathematical abilities.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the relationship between short-term memory, working memory, inhibitory control, and arithmetic word problem solving in children.
To compare cognitive profiles of children with and without arithmetic difficulties.
To identify specific executive function deficits in children who are poor at solving arithmetic word problems.

Main Methods:

Comparative study design involving children with poor arithmetic problem-solving skills and a matched control group.
Utilized working memory tasks specifically designed to assess inhibitory control over irrelevant information.
Employed span tasks to evaluate passive information storage, differentiating between numerical and verbal material.

Main Results:

Children with poor arithmetic problem-solving skills demonstrated a general deficit in inhibitory processes.
These children exhibited lower scores and increased intrusion errors in working memory tasks requiring inhibition.
Impairment was noted in retaining numerical information during passive storage tasks, but not verbal information.

Conclusions:

Poor arithmetic problem solvers have a deficit in inhibitory control, affecting their working memory performance.
The ability to suppress irrelevant information is critical for effective arithmetic word problem solving.
Cognitive interventions targeting inhibitory control may benefit children with mathematical difficulties.