Working Memory and Automaticity in Relation to Mental Addition among American Elementary Students

AbstractThis study investigated the effects of working memory load (WML) and automaticity on mental addition through an examination of both task and individual characteristics within the framework of cognitive load theory. Seventy-three fourth-grade students in New York City public schools completed the Digit Span-Backward task of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fifth Edition, the Math Fluency subtest of the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Third Edition, and a 24-item computer-assisted addition task. Results showed that working memory load, automaticity, and their interaction had significant effects on mental addition. Automaticity had a differential effect on response time under low and high WML conditions. Results also showed that working memory, math fluency, and their interaction could predict a significant portion of variance in accuracy. However, math fluency was the only significant predictor for mental addition on the measure of response time. The study confirmed the interaction effect between working memory and automaticity and underscored the importance of automaticity in arithmetic learning.Keywords: American elementary studentsautomaticitymath fluencymental additionworking memory capacityworking memory load AcknowledgementsThis project was based on Qiong Yu’s dissertation study mentored by Yi Ding. Thanks to participating students.Ethical approvalThis study closely followed all ethical standards established by the Institutional Review Board (protocol #920).Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).