Strategy use, the development of automaticity, and working memory involvement in complex multiplication.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Neuroscience of Learning

Background:

• Complex multiplication problem-solving often relies on procedural strategies.
• Working memory plays a crucial role in cognitive tasks, especially those with high load.
• Automaticity in arithmetic is linked to efficient cognitive processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of practice on strategy use in complex multiplication.
• To examine the relationship between strategy, working memory load, and problem-solving speed.
• To explore how practice influences automaticity and cognitive resource allocation.

Main Methods:

• A pre-/post-practice design was employed with participants solving complex multiplication problems.
• Self-reports on problem-solving strategies were collected before, during, and after practice.
• Dual-task methodology assessed working memory load associated with different strategies.

Main Results:

• Pre-practice: The multidigit algorithm was common, with high working memory load for non-retrieval strategies.
• Post-practice: Retrieval became the dominant strategy, significantly predicting problem-solving latencies.
• Practice reduced working memory involvement, with no correlation between automaticity and working memory load.

Conclusions:

• Practice transforms complex multiplication from a procedural to a retrieval-based skill.
• Increased automaticity through practice minimizes working memory demands.
• Findings align with automaticity development observed in simpler arithmetic tasks.