Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Children's arithmetical difficulties: contributions from processing speed, item identification, and short-term memory

R Bull1, R S Johnston

  • 1School of Psychology, University of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. rb5@st-andrews.ac.uk

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|April 1, 1997
PubMed
Summary

Children with arithmetic difficulties may struggle with automating basic math facts due to slower processing speeds, not necessarily short-term memory deficits. This impacts their overall math performance.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Hepatitis C-specific effector and regulatory CD4 T-cell responses are associated with the outcomes of primary infection.

Journal of viral hepatitis·2016
Same author

Linear porokeratosis with multiple squamous cell carcinomas successfully treated by electrochemotherapy.

The British journal of dermatology·2016
Same author

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in Singaporean kindergartners.

Child: care, health and development·2015
Same author

Rare occurrence of occult hepatitis C virus in apparently uninfected injecting drug users: a two-centre, masked, case-control study.

Journal of viral hepatitis·2013
Same author

Contrasting approaches to end of life and palliative care in end stage kidney disease.

Indian journal of nephrology·2012
Same author

Pyoderma gangrenosum-like ulcer caused by Helicobacter cinaedi in a patient with x-linked agammaglobulinaemia.

Clinical and experimental dermatology·2012

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Educational Psychology

Background:

  • Children's arithmetical difficulties are commonly attributed to short-term memory deficits.
  • Potential causes for memory deficits include slow articulation rate or slow item identification impacting long-term memory retrieval.
  • General processing speed, often overlooked, is linked to short-term memory but rarely studied in children's arithmetic.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between processing speed, short-term memory, sequencing ability, and arithmetic performance in children.
  • To determine the primary cognitive predictors of arithmetical difficulties, controlling for reading ability.

Main Methods:

  • Administered tests measuring short-term memory, processing speed, sequencing ability, and long-term memory retrieval to 7-year-old children.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Controlled for reading ability as a confounding factor in the analysis.

    • Main Results:

    • Processing speed was the strongest predictor of arithmetic ability in children.
    • Short-term memory did not account for unique variance in arithmetic ability after controlling for processing speed and reading ability.
    • Difficulties in automating basic arithmetic facts were identified as a key issue.

    Conclusions:

    • Children's arithmetic difficulties may stem from a general deficit in processing speed, affecting the automation of basic arithmetic facts.
    • The findings challenge the sole reliance on short-term memory deficits as an explanation for arithmetical challenges.
    • Implications for educational interventions focusing on processing speed and fact automation are suggested.