Modality-Dependent or Modality-Independent Processing in Mental Arithmetic: Evidence From Unimpaired Auditory...

Mental arithmetic is essential to daily life. Researchers have explored the mechanisms that underlie mental arithmetic. Whether mental arithmetic fact retrieval is dependent on surface modality or knowledge format is still highly debated. Chinese individuals typically use a procedure strategy for addition; and they typically use a rote verbal strategy for multiplication. This provides a way to examine the effect of surface modality on different arithmetic operations.

We used a series of neuropsychological tests (i.e., general cognitive, language processing, numerical processing, addition, and multiplication in visual and auditory conditions) for a patient who had experienced a left frontotemporal stroke.

The patient had language production impairment; but preserved verbal processing concerning basic numerical abilities. Moreover, the patient had preserved multiplication in the auditory presentation rather than in the visual presentation. The patient suffered from impairments in an addition task, regardless of visual or auditory presentation.

The findings suggest that mental multiplication could be characterized as a form of modality-dependent processing, which was accessed through auditory input. The learning strategy of multiplication table recitation could shape the verbal memory of multiplication leading to persistence of the auditory module. (JINS, 2017, 23, 692-699).