Year-end Sale % OFF 
Abstract
Most research investigating how the cognitive system deals with arithmetic has focused on the processing of two addends. Arithmetic that involves more addends has specific cognitive demands such as the need to compute and hold the intermediate sum. This study examines the intermediate sums activations in intentional and automatic calculations. Experiment 1 included addition problems containing three operands. Participants were asked to calculate the sum and to remember the digits that appeared in the problem. The results revealed an interference effect in which it was hard to identify that the digit representing the intermediate sum was not actually one of the operands. Experiment 2, further examined if the intermediate sum is activated automatically when a task does not require calculation. Here, participants were presented with a prime of an addition problem followed by a target number. The task was to determine whether the target number is odd or even, while ignoring the addition problem in the prime. The results suggested that the intermediate sum of the addition problem in the prime was activated automatically and facilitated the target. Overall, the implications of those findings in the context of theories that relate to cognitive mathematical calculation is further discussed.
Highlights
Arithmetic is a branch of mathematics that deals with numbers and their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
The results revealed that when participants had to identify that a digit was not one of the addends, response time (RT) was slower when the digit was the intermediate sum (1348 ms, SD = 274.76) than a neutral digit (1125 ms, SD = 244.54), [F(1,16) = 34.67, p < 0.001]
Experiment 1 found that in an intentional serial three addend summation problem, the intermediate sum is activated. This intermediate sum representation is activated to such a degree that participants tend to confuse the intermediate sum with the actual addends in the problem
Summary
Arithmetic is a branch of mathematics that deals with numbers and their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Children learn arithmetic as part of the school curriculum and both children and adults encounter and process simple arithmetic tasks, such as calculating change, in everyday life activities. When the target digit was the sum of the preceding pair of digits (e.g., the target 7 preceded by the pair 4 + 3) rejection times were longer than when the target digit was not the sum of the preceding pair of digits (e.g., the target 9 preceded by the pair 4 + 3) This difference in response time (RT) between the two conditions is the interference effect, and noticeably, it occurred automatically, where there was no need to solve the arithmetic problem
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
