Investigating the effect of cognitive load on working memory tasks in children with arithmetical difficulties
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Date
2006Item status
Restricted AccessAuthor
Boon, Joanna
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Abstract
In this study of working memory spans, children with low arithmetical ability
were compared to an age-matched control group with normal arithmetical ability in their
performance on dual-task procedures. Literacy skills were controlled for in both groups.
Centred on the time-based resource-sharing model of Barrouillet et al (2004), working
memory tasks require attention, with decay of memory traces occurring as soon as
attention is switched away from memory items. Cognitive load of the processing task was
manipulated by task complexity and pace and is defined by Barrouillet et al (2004) as ‘
the function of the time during which a cognitive task captures attention in such a way
that the refreshing of decaying memory traces are impeded’. It was hypothesised that as
the cognitive load increased memory span would decrease in both groups but that the
decrease would be greater in children with poor arithmetical skills. The difference in
memory spans was significant between the groups (F(1,23) = 6.78 ; p < 0.05). The main
effect of task was found to be non significant in both experimental and control groups and
pace was found to have a significant effect in the control group only (F (1, 11) = 0.006; p
<0.05) showing differences in working memory between children with normal
arithmetical ability and those with poor arithmetical ability.
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2. Introduction
The acquisition of mathematical skills in young children has been given an
increasing amount of attention in recent years, in particular examining the role of
working memory as an explanatory device accounting for individual differences in
ability. (Barrouillet and Camos, 2001; Logie and Gilhooly, 1998; Miyake and Shah,
1999; Adams and Hitch, 1997). Often children who display specific learning difficulties
have working memory deficits that cause limitations in their performance on a variety of
tasks such as the reading span developed by Daneman and Carpenter (1980) and the
counting span by Case (1985). Children with poor arithmetical abilities, commonly
referred to as a mathematic disabled group (MD), have consistently produced results
highlighting their deficits in working memory related to poor flexibility when dealing
with numerical information (Baddeley and Hitch 1974; Passolunghi and Siegel,2001);
slow and inaccurate problem solving( Hitch and McAuley, 1991; Seigel and Ryan 1989;
Swanson 1993, Passolunghi and Siegel, 2001) and poor working memory capacity
associated with the maintenance of irrelevant information and inefficient storage systems
(Passolunghi and Seigel, 2001; 2004).
2.1 Working memory
Hitch (1974) was one of the first researchers to investigate the role of working
memory in mental arithmetic, which he proposed referred to the temporary storage and
processing over a range of cognitive tasks. Together, Baddeley and Hitch (1974)
proposed the