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The Developmental Trajectory of the Operational Momentum Effect
Pedro Pinheiro-Chagas1,2, Daniele Didino3, Vitor G Haase4,5,6,7
1Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA DRF/I2BM, INSERM, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, Orsay, France.
Frontiers in Psychology
|August 2, 2018
Summary
The operational momentum (OM) effect, linking math and spatial skills, emerges in children aged 9 and strengthens with age. This developmental trend suggests a growing reliance on visuospatial attention for mental calculation.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Mental calculation is strongly linked to visuospatial abilities.
- The operational momentum (OM) effect, where addition results are overestimated and subtraction results underestimated, provides evidence for this link.
- While present in infants and adults, the developmental trajectory of the OM effect has not been studied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the developmental trajectory of the operational momentum (OM) effect in children.
- To understand the cognitive mechanisms underlying approximate calculation and the OM effect.
Main Methods:
- 162 children aged 8-12 years participated.
- Participants solved approximate addition and subtraction problems, choosing from five spatially distributed response options.
- The study analyzed the presence and magnitude of the OM effect across different age groups.
Main Results:
- No OM effect was observed in the youngest children (under 9).
- Children aged 9 and older exhibited a clear OM effect, which increased monotonically with age.
- Increased OM effect correlated with improved accuracy, shifting from non-systematic to systematic errors.
Conclusions:
- The developmental increase in the OM effect suggests a strengthening link between visuospatial attention and mental calculation, potentially influenced by schooling.
- The attentional shift account offers a plausible explanation for these findings, highlighting the role of the mental number line.
- These results provide crucial empirical constraints for theories explaining the origins of the OM effect.
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