Bidirectional effects between working memory and math in children with and without math disabilities: Does working...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Inefficient working memory (WM) is linked to math disabilities (MD) in children.
• The directional relationship between WM and math performance in children with MD requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the bidirectional relationship between WM and math performance in children with and without MD.
• To examine how this relationship evolves across three grades and over three years.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study of 651 children across three cohorts and three grade levels (grades 1-5).
• Comparison of children with MD (n=103) to typically developing peers (n=446) and high achievers (n=175).
• Analysis of within-subject and between-subject changes in WM and math performance.

Main Results:

• The relationship between WM and math performance differed between children with and without MD.
• Age-related math gains relied heavily on WM resources.
• WM influenced math performance in typically developing children and high achievers, but not in children with MD.

Conclusions:

• Children with MD exhibit a weaker WM-math connection, particularly in early learning stages.
• The findings suggest that weaker WM growth relative to math growth, not prior knowledge or reduced WM capacity, explains the observed patterns in children with MD.