The emergence of attentional shifts during single-digit calculation in 8 to 11-year-old children

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Cognitive Processes

Abstract

Increasing evidence indicates that our ability to process numbers is grounded in spatial representations in the form of a mental number line (MNL). Recent studies have suggested that in adults, spatial associations may not be limited to number processing per se, but might also be observed during arithmetic calculation. In a recent study, Mathieu et al., 2016 investigated the attentional shifts that occur during exact symbolic arithmetic. Adults were asked to solve single-digit arithmetic problems presented on a computer screen. While the first operand and the arithmetic sign where presented sequentially at the center of the screen, the second operand was presented either in the left visual field (LVF) or the right visual field (RVF). Results indicated that participants were faster to solve addition problems when the second operand was presented in the RVF than the LVF, while they were faster to solve subtraction problems when the second operand was presented in the LVF than the RVF. Notably, no spatial bias was observed in multiplication problems (which are explicitly learned by rote in school).
As most evidence comes from adults, we designed two parallel experiments- using Mathieu et al., 2016 paradigm- to understand the emergence of shifts of attention along the MNL during calculation in 8 to 11-year-old children. Children were presented with single-digit addition (Experiment 1 and 2), subtraction (Experiment 1), and multiplication (Experiment 2) problems. If spatial shifts of attention occur during arithmetic calculation in children, there should be a greater facilitation of performance when the second operand appears on the right-side vs the left-side in additions than in subtractions (i.e. Experiment 1). However, this should not be the case for multiplication problems, as these problems are thought to involve direct retrieval from memory (i.e. Experiment 2). We found that there was no difference in children’s performance of addition and subtraction problems, but there was a small tendency of age in solving subtraction problems (Experiment 1). In contrast, an operation effect on solving additions vs multiplication problems could be observed in Experiment 2. These results were somewhat unexpected and raised the question of why children were faster at solving addition problems when the second operand appeared on the right in Experiment 2 but not in Experiment 1. We propose three possible explanations that could account for such findings. (i) Children in Experiment 2 were more proficient than in Experiment 1, (ii) the spatial bias previously observed in adults is relatively variable across samples, and (iii) context differences could exist between experiments. Theoretical implications of both studies will be further discussed.

Authors

• Andrea Díaz-Barriga Yáñez, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
  Presenting Author

• Jérôme Prado, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Catherine Thevenot, University of Lausanne
  Non-Presenting Author

• Auriane Couderc
  Non-Presenting Author

• Léa Longo, Inserm
  Non-Presenting Author

• Annabelle Merchie, Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hanna Chesnokova, Inserm
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emma Langlois
  Non-Presenting Author