Linguistic influences in cognitive arithmetic: comment on Noel, Fias and Brsybaert (1997)

Noël et al. (Noël, M.-P., Fias, W., Brsybaert, M., 1997. About the influence of the presentation format on arithmetical-fact retrieval processes. Cognition 63, 335-374) examined the simple-multiplication errors of 24 Dutch- and 24 French-speaking adults for evidence that number reading interferes with language-specific, number-fact retrieval processes. They concluded that arithmetic memory is not influenced by reading-based interference and is based on a notation and language-independent mental representation. Alternative analyses of their error data, however, provide strong evidence that arithmetic performance is subject to reading-based interference and provide some support for the language-specificity of number-fact memory.