Working memory and math skills in children with and without ADHD

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often exhibit deficits in working memory and math skills.
• Working memory, as described by Baddeley's model, comprises a central executive and phonological/visuospatial subsystems.
• Existing research highlights a connection between working memory impairments and math difficulties, but the specific contributions of each component remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between specific working memory components (central executive, phonological short-term memory, visuospatial short-term memory), ADHD symptoms, and math skills in children.
• To determine the extent to which each working memory subcomponent accounts for math skill deficits.
• To explore the contribution of ADHD inattentive symptoms to math skills and the central executive-math association.

Main Methods:

• Employed bifactor (S·I-1) modeling on a sample of 186 clinically evaluated children aged 8-13.
• Assessed relationships between central executive, phonological short-term memory, visuospatial short-term memory, ADHD symptoms, and math skills.
• Utilized structural equation modeling to analyze the data.

Main Results:

• All three working memory components significantly and equally influenced latent math skills (β = .29-.50, p < .05).
• Working memory components collectively explained 56% of the variance in math achievement (R² = .56).
• ADHD inattentive symptoms contributed minimally but significantly to predicting math skills (ΔR² = .07) and mediated 24% of the central executive-math association.

Conclusions:

• Math difficulties in children, including those with ADHD, are substantially linked to neurocognitive vulnerabilities in working memory.
• ADHD symptoms play a lesser, though significant, role in math skill deficits compared to working memory impairments.
• Findings underscore the critical role of working memory in mathematical development and highlight potential targets for intervention.