It is commonly accepted that repeatedly using mental procedures results in a transition to memory retrieval, but the determinant of this process is still unclear. In a 3-week experiment, we compared two different learning situations involving basic additions, one based on counting and the other based on arithmetic fact memorization. Two groups of…

Objective: When students learn or solve problems, attentional resources are depleted; rest breaks may restore cognitive functioning in support of learning. Research framed by attention restoration theory holds that exposure to natural environments may be another means to restore attentional resources. The study investigated the effects of…

This research pursued a fine-grained analysis of the acquisition of a procedural skill. In two experiments (n = 29 and n = 27), adults practiced 12 alphabet arithmetic problems (e.g., C + 3 = C D E F) in two sessions with 20 practice blocks in each. If learning reflected speed up of a counting algorithm, response time (RT) speed up should be…

A focus of early mathematics education is to build fluency through practice. Several models of skill acquisition have sought to explain the increase in fluency because of practice by modeling both the learning mechanisms driving this speedup and the changes in cognitive processes involved in executing the skill (such as transitioning from…

Gestalt psychologists proposed two distinct learning mechanisms. Associative learning occurs gradually through the repeated co-occurrence of external stimuli or memories. Insight learning occurs suddenly when people discover new relationships within their prior knowledge as a result of reasoning or problem solving processes that re-organize or…

Two experiments are reported in which subjects performed simple mental arithmetic problems which were presented visually in a sequential fashion. At some point in the presentation of each problem, the sequential display was interrupted and a memory task introduced. The purpose was to validate a measure of transient memory load. (Author/RM)

This document contains the second volume of the proceedings of the 28th annual conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Conference presentations are centered around the theme "Inclusion and Diversity". This volume features 65 research report papers: (1) Constructing Meanings and Utilities within Algebraic…