Interactivity mitigates the impact of working memory depletion on mental arithmetic performance

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Educational Technology

Background:

• Performing complex calculations taxes working memory, especially when the phonological loop is overloaded.
• Low interactivity tasks are more susceptible to cognitive load and anxiety.
• Understanding how physical interaction influences cognitive processes is crucial for designing effective learning environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of physical interactivity on working memory during arithmetic tasks.
• To examine how articulatory suppression (phonological loop loading) interacts with different levels of interactivity.
• To determine if mathematics anxiety is modulated by interactivity during cognitive tasks.

Main Methods:

• Participants completed long sums under two conditions: low interactivity (hands down) and high interactivity (moving numbered tokens).
• Articulatory suppression (continuous repetition of 'the') was employed to load the phonological loop.
• Performance on arithmetic tasks was measured, along with mathematics anxiety levels.

Main Results:

• Both interactivity and articulatory suppression significantly affected performance.
• Articulatory suppression had a greater negative impact on performance in the low interactivity condition compared to the high interactivity condition.
• Mathematics anxiety predicted the detrimental effect of articulatory suppression only in the low interactivity setting.

Conclusions:

• Physical interactivity augments systemic working memory resources, mitigating the negative effects of cognitive load.
• Interactivity can diminish the influence of mathematics anxiety on task performance.
• Agent-environment coupling is a critical factor in understanding cognitive system properties and performance outcomes.