The ability to retrieve basic arithmetic facts from long-term memory contributes to individual and perhaps sex differences in mathematics achievement. The current study tracked the codevelopment of preference for using retrieval over other strategies to solve single-digit addition problems, independent of accuracy, and skilled use of retrieval…

Can false memories have a positive consequence on human cognition? In two experiments, we investigated whether false memories could prime insight problem-solving tasks. Children and adults were asked to solve compound remote associate task (CRAT) problems, half of which had been primed by the presentation of Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists…

Children's (N = 275) use of retrieval, decomposition (e.g., 7 = 4+3 and thus 6+7 = 6+4+3), and counting to solve additional problems was longitudinally assessed from first grade to fourth grade, and intelligence, working memory, and in-class attentive behavior was assessed in one or several grades. The goal was to assess the relation between…

The involvement of working memory (WM) was examined in two types of mental calculation tasks: exact and approximate. Specifically, children attending Grades 3 and 4 of primary school were involved in three experiments that examined the role of verbal and visuospatial WM in solving addition problems presented in vertical or horizontal format. For…

This study determined the working memory (WM) components (executive, phonological loop, and visual-spatial sketchpad) that best predicted mathematical word problem-solving accuracy of elementary school children in Grades 2, 3, and 4 (N = 310). A battery of tests was administered to assess problem-solving accuracy, problem-solving processes, WM,…

The aim of this study was to investigate the strategies used by third graders in solving the 81 elementary subtractions that are the inverses of the one-digit additions with addends from 1 to 9 recently studied by Barrouillet and Lepine. Although the pattern of relationship between individual differences in working memory, on the one hand, and…

This study explored relationship between working memory (WM) and mathematical problem solving, comparing children with learning disabilities (LD) to chronologically age-matched and younger achievement-matched children on measures of WM, phonological processing, problem-solving, and word problem-solving accuracy. Found support for notion that…

Studied relations among children's short-term memory, working memory, inhibitory control, and arithmetic word-problem solving. Found that poor problem solvers had lower scores and made more intrusion errors in working memory tasks requiring inhibition of irrelevant information than good problem solvers. Findings indicated that performance relates…

The effects of memory load (simultaneous or successive presentation), number of trials (two or three), and type of information (positive, negative, or mixed) upon inference task performance of 168 five-year-old children were examined. (Author/JH)

Investigated 4- to 6-year olds' creation and use of external representation strategies in problem solving. Found that direct training and increasing salience of task dimensions increased use of external representations. Four-year olds showed a utilization deficiency in external representation strategy use in the prompt conditions, but not in the…

Supports the position that children learn superordinate elements later than subordinate ones. (WY)

Examines children's understanding of what variables and relations are important in problem structures, and their use of these variables and relations in problem solving. (HOD)

Young children's intentional preparation for future recall of the location of an object was examined within the context of a delayed-reaction paradigm. Children older than 3 years stored the object at distinctive locations and thereby facilitated retrieval. Feedback, viewing consequences, and suggestions for strategy positively influenced…

Investigated the effect of children's problem schemata and working memory span on the accuracy of children's solutions of arithmetic word problems. Results supported the hypothesis that the amount of working memory resources activated is independent of schemata activation, and indicated a weak relationship between memory and problem-solving…

In a reviewed series of spontaneous and learning-set studies of adults and children, adults solved problems even if they attended to four dimensions; young children failed when attending so broadly, but solved when attending to a single dimension. (Author/HS)