Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology-Revue Canadienne De Psychologie Experimentale最新文献

Conceptual understanding of arithmetic is considered a key component for success in advanced mathematics topics such as algebra, but the link between them has rarely been investigated, particularly in adults. Participants solved conducive (3 × 26 ÷ 26) and nonconducive (26 × 3 ÷ 26) inversion problems, conducive (3 × 26 ÷ 13) and nonconducive (26 × 3 ÷ 13) associativity problems, and multiplication (3 × 6 × 12 = 3 × ?) and division (36 ÷ 8 ÷ 4 = 36 ÷ ?) equivalence problems and completed an algebra task. Conceptually based shortcut use on the nonconducive inversion problems was the strongest predictor of algebra scores. Participants who used conceptually based shortcuts on more problem types had higher algebra scores than participants who had low use of conceptually based shortcuts on most problem types. The results support the relationship between algebra and conceptual understanding of arithmetic and demonstrate that even in adulthood there are pronounced individual differences in conceptual understanding of arithmetic, which may impact success in advanced mathematics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Ordinal number processing skills are important for adults and children. Recent work demonstrates that children have difficulty with judging the ordinality of sequences that are in-order but do not match the typical count-list (i.e., in-order non-adjacent sequences, such as 2-4-6). Limited evidence in the literature suggests that dyscalculic children show a similar pattern of behavior. In the present study, we sought to explicitly test the hypothesis that children with developmental dyscalculia struggle primarily with extending notions of ordinality to sequences outside of the count-list. We test this hypothesis using a sample of children with persistent developmental dyscalculia, and a comparison group of typically performing children. Both groups completed an ordinality judgment task, in which triplet sequences were judged as being in-order (e.g., 3-4-5; 2-4-6) or in mixed-order (e.g., 3-5-4; 2-6-4). In line with our prediction, results demonstrate that children with persistent developmental dyscalculia make more errors, compared to typically performing children, but only on the in-order non-adjacent trials (e.g., 2-4-6). Broadly, this finding suggests that ordinality processing abilities are impaired in children with developmental dyscalculia, and that this characteristic appears primarily in extending notions of ordinality beyond adjacent sequences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Over the past decades, numerical and mathematical cognition has transformed from a niche research area into a thriving global field, with contributions spanning diverse populations, methodologies, and theoretical approaches. The 13 articles in this special issue highlight the breadth and depth of contemporary research, addressing topics such as the development of early numeracy skills, the interplay between mathematical and reading processes, the cognitive mechanisms supporting arithmetic and algebra, and the role of visuospatial thinking in expert mathematical reasoning. The contributions exemplify methodological innovation, from longitudinal studies and psychometric evaluations to interdisciplinary theoretical models that integrate numerical and linguistic frameworks. Together, they collectively advance theoretical, applied, and interdisciplinary perspectives. This introduction synthesizes the contributions, demonstrating how they collectively inspire future directions for research on numerical and mathematical cognition. We discuss the broader implications of the work while also contextualizing its development within its historical ties to Canadian experimental psychology and the foundational work of pioneers such as the late Jamie I. D. Campbell, in memory of whom this special issue was conceived. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Previous research on attitudes towards mathematics has mostly been assessed in a single language. We examined whether math attitudes differ by language in multilingual younger adults (ages 18-25). Furthermore, we evaluated the relationships between math attitudes, verbal memory, and calculation fluency in this sample. Eighty-seven French-English multilingual young adults self-reported their math attitudes using the Mathematics Anxiety Scale-Revised (Bai et al., 2009) in both English and French. Participants also self-reported verbal memory, calculation fluency, and general language proficiency in English and French. Results showed that attitudes towards mathematics for English and French were similar. Exploratory factor analysis also confirmed that the extracted factors revealed negative and positive attitudes towards mathematics, with English and French items loading on the same factors. Correlation analysis showed a negative relationship between negative attitudes towards mathematics and verbal memory only in English. This relationship remained statistically significant after controlling for general language proficiency. However, neither positive nor negative math attitudes were correlated with calculation fluency. Building on the examination of symbolic representations of mathematical cognition by Campbell, results from the study were interpreted as the first step to investigating math attitudes in individuals with diverse linguistic backgrounds. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Reading and math are related due to many codeveloping skills. Historically, theorizing in these two areas has progressed separately, despite well-documented empirical evidence for a range of shared underlying developmental processes subserving these learning domains. The purpose of this article was to describe the links between the Triple Code Model, an influential model of numerical cognition, and the Triangle Framework, a dominant model of learning to read. We describe several parallels between the theoretical models and discuss how the cognitive mechanisms posited by the Triangle Framework might be used to understand the commonalities in learning processes across these learning domains. In particular, we discuss how the cognitive mechanisms implemented in the Triangle Framework can be used to understand linguistic aspects of numerical cognition, specifically, learning the connections among numerals (e.g., 24) and spoken words (e.g., twenty-four), and linking those to semantic representations of magnitude. Following from these commonalities between the two models, we discuss several ways that interdisciplinary work integrating both models can benefit math cognition research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Arithmetic requires the use of multiple cognitive processes, such as short-term memory (STM). However, findings on the association between STM and simple multiplication solving are mixed, potentially due to large interindividual differences in multiplication proficiency within and between samples. The present study aims to explore further the relationship between visual and verbal STM and simple multiplication solving with a large Malaysian sample (N = 230). Adults (age = 17-42) completed an online production-based multiplication-solving task, STM measures (verbal and visuospatial STM tasks), and a demographic survey. A mixed-model analysis found that verbal STM and visual STM predict multiplication performance, with lower span participants having longer reaction times during multiplication solving. Interestingly, we also observed the relationship between verbal STM and multiplication was moderated by interference, the impact of verbal STM was stronger in high-interference problems, while the visual STM-multiplication relation was moderated by problem size, high visual span participants took more advantage of their visual STM when presented with large size problems. Thus, our findings show that both verbal and visual STM in interaction with problem properties predict simple multiplication solving in adults. Hypotheses on the concrete mechanisms involved in these relationships are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

While in society mathematics is often thought of as formal and rigid, mathematicians themselves frequently consider the discipline creative and visual. To challenge stereotypes, we focus on visuo-spatial thinking by research mathematicians (n = 232). Via the Object-Spatial Imagery and Verbal Questionnaire (Blazhenkova & Kozhevnikov, 2009), together with open questions, we ask the following: (1) Are mathematicians visuo-spatial thinkers? (2) Is the degree of visual thinking correlated with mathematical subdiscipline? (3) Which role does visual thinking play in mathematical research? The Object-Spatial Imagery and Verbal Questionnaire results indicate that mathematicians are more strongly visuo-spatial thinkers than scientists, humanities researchers or visual artists. The degree of visuo-spatial thinking does not correlate to how 'visual' the mathematical subdiscipline is as measured by average figure environment per article, obtained through text mining 3,799 arXiv articles. In open questions, two thirds of respondents (n = 222) report using visual mental imagery during mathematical research. Some mathematicians mention metaphors for research that refer to spatial movement, such as rock climbing, moving through a jungle or attacking the problem like an insect. Our study contributes to the research agenda set by Alcock et al. (2016), which aims to improve our understanding of mathematical cognition for the purpose of elucidating the nature of mathematical thinking and inform policymakers to address challenges in mathematics education. We conclude that visualisation plays an important part in the practice of mathematics, contrary to common belief. As Hadamard wrote in 1945: 'deductions in the realm of numbers may be, at least in several mathematical minds, most generally accompanied by images'. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

The goal of the present study was to investigate whether a relationship exists between statistical learning ability and sentence processing ability in adult readers and whether this relationship depends on the participant's exposure to print. Fifty participants read syntactically complex sentences while their eye movements were tracked and answered comprehension questions. The region of interest for the eye fixation analyses was the area where the complexity of the sentence became evident. Participants also completed a visual statistical learning (VSL) task and an author recognition test (ART). There were main effects of statistical learning ability and print exposure, as well as an interaction between the two on both first pass and total reading times. Reading times decreased with increasing VSL scores for participants with higher ART scores, whereas reading times increased with increasing VSL scores for participants with lower ART scores. In addition, participants with better statistical learning ability and greater print exposure had higher scores on the comprehension questions. These results demonstrate that efficient processing of complex syntactic structures depends on both good statistical learning skills and exposure to a large amount of print so that these skills have the opportunity to extract the relevant statistical relationships in the language. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

This work aimed to examine whether the spatial representations of actions depend on the spatial features of the body components involved in those actions. I proposed that this is possible, but only when the responses cannot be spatially coded based on the spatial features of the actions' goal. I presented participants with large and small objects and instructed them to respond with either their palm-hand or index-digit based on the colour of the objects. Palm-hand or index-digit responses represented large and small responses, respectively, considering the size of the effector part used. The collected data confirmed this hypothesis. I found a size-based Simon effect, indicating that participants code the size of their responses based on the relative size of the body part used for responding (i.e., palm-hand vs. index-digit). This finding therefore suggests that the size-based Simon effect could serve as a valuable tool for implicitly assessing the metrics of body representation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

In published studies using the remember/know judgement paradigm, the remember-based old/new responses (supposed to be slow and effortful) are on average faster than the know-based responses (supposed to be fast and automatic), contrary to the dual-process theories' view. One widely believed cause of this finding is that it is an experimental artefact, meaning participants are unknowingly influenced by the instruction to first consider the remember before the know alternative. In Experiment 1, we hinted to participants to first consider the know experience. This did not reverse the order of the two response times (RT). In Experiment 2, we explicitly told them to first consider the familiarity experience. Additionally, we used a decision criterion favouring making quick familiarity responses. These measures significantly lowered the RT and increased the proportion of familiarity-based responses. However, they did not change the RT of the recollection-based responses and did not reverse the relative order of the two RTs. Based on this finding and participants' inability to inhibit the retrieval of contextual details, we concluded that the paradoxical RT results are probably not an experimental artefact and that retrieval of detailed information in recollective recognition might be automatic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).