Effect of Automaticity on Mental Addition: The Moderating Role of Working Memory

Abstract

The aim of this research was to examine the role of working memory in moderating the effects of automaticity on mental addition in 40 Chinese third-graders from the perspectives of task characteristics and individual characteristics. In Study 1, a 2 (working memory load [WML]) × 2 (automaticity), within-subjects design was utilized. There was significant interaction effect of WML and automaticity on students’ response time in mental addition. The WML moderated the effect of automaticity on mental addition. In Study 2, we conducted an HLM analysis. Of all working-memory-capacity variables, only the phonological loop (with mathematics-based stimuli) was found to significantly moderate the effects of automaticity on students’ mental addition.

Keywords:

• Automaticity
• mental addition
• moderating role of working-memory capacity
• working memory load

Compliance with ethical standards

This study closely followed all ethical standards established by the institutional review boards at the authors’ universities and participating schools.

Acknowledgment

Thanks to the parents, teachers, and students in participating schools. Thanks to Agnes DeRaad for editorial support. Thanks to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful and constructive comments.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Project of Humanities and Social Sciences Key Research Base in the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (Grant No. 15JJD190001, 教育部人文社会科学重点研究基地重大项目] to Ru-De Liu. This study was partially supported by a 2016–2017 Faculty Research Grant from Fordham University to Yi Ding.