The relationship between working memory for serial order and numerical development: A longitudinal study.

Abstract

Despite numerous studies, the link between verbal working memory (WM) and calculation abilities remains poorly understood. The present longitudinal study focuses specifically on the role of serial order retention capacities, based on recent findings suggesting a link between ordinal processing in verbal WM and numerical processing tasks. Children were tested when they were in 3rd-year kindergarten (Time 1 [T1]), 1st grade (Time 2 [T2]), and 2nd grade of primary school (Time 3 [T3]), with WM tasks maximizing retention of serial order or item information, as well as with numerical judgment and calculation tasks. We observed that order WM measures at T1 provided a robust predictor of calculation abilities at T2 and T3. Numerical ordinal and magnitude judgment abilities were also associated with calculation abilities and this, independently of order WM abilities. This study highlights the important role of WM for order in early calculation acquisition, in addition to numerical ordinal and magnitude representations, and provides new perspectives for our understanding of the link between verbal WM and numerical abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Number comparison and number ordering as predictors of arithmetic performance in adults: Exploring the link between the two skills, and investigating the question of domain-specificity

“…Their longitudinal study was conducted with young children, and they found a progressive change in the processes underlying ordinal representations. Thus, the strongest conclusion that can be drawn from Attout, Noël, et al (2014) study is that number comparison skills mature earlier than order representations (see also Colomé & Noël, 2012;Lyons et al, 2014).…”

“…When exploring the relationship between comparison and order processing skills, we did not simply look at correlations between the tasks, but also looked at the relationship between these tasks and arithmetic skills. Although recent studies have very usefully compared the predictive power of numerical comparison and order representations with regard to mathematical/arithmetic skills (Attout, Noël, et al, 2014;Goffin & Ansari, 2016;Lyons et al, 2014;Vogel et al, 2015), the methodologies and participant samples of these studies have left several issues unresolved. Lyons et al (2014) did not explore the relationship between numerical comparison and order processing skills.…”

“…Although this allowed the authors to observe important developmental changes in the predictive power of ordering versus comparison tasks, they did not include an adult sample, making it difficult to draw conclusions regarding mature mathematical skills. Similarly, Attout, Noël, et al (2014) were primarily concerned with the predictive power of comparison and order processing with respect to the development of maths abilities. Their longitudinal study was conducted with young children, and they found a progressive change in the processes underlying ordinal representations.…”

“…There is also newly emerging evidence for an order processing deficit in both adults (Rubinsten & Sury, 2011) and children with developmental dyscalculia (Attout & Majerus, 2015). Finally Attout, Noël, and Majerus (2014) demonstrated that memory for order information was a robust predictor of the development of symbolic number skills in young children. Nevertheless, so far there has been relatively little research into the role of order processing in maths, and existing studies have provided conflicting responses to some basic questions.…”

The Stability of Individual Differences in Basic Mathematics‐Related Skills in Young Children at the Start of Formal Education

“…Although it appears that numerical ordering skills become particularly important from around the age of 6 or 7 (Attout & Majerus, ; Lyons, Price, Vaessen, Blomert, & Ansari, ; Sasanguie & Vos, ), there is also now emerging evidence in support of a role of nonnumerical ordering in mathematical development in the case of younger children (Attout, Noël, & Majerus, ; Morsanyi, van Bers, O'Connor, & McCormack, ; O'Connor, Morsanyi, & McCormack, ). Nonnumerical order processing measures can be broadly divided into two categories: those involving the retrieval of a familiar sequence from long‐term memory, such as the order of familiar daily events, familiar everyday sequences, the months of the year, or letters (Morsanyi, O'Mahony, & McCormack, ; O'Connor et al, ; Sasanguie, De Smedt, & Reynvoet, ; Vos, Sasanguie, Gevers, & Reynvoet, ), and those involving the retrieval of a novel, arbitrary sequence from short‐term memory (order working memory [WM] task; Attout & Majerus, , ; Attout et al, ). O'Connor et al () found that both numerical and nonnumerical ordering measures were related to early mathematical achievement in 4–5‐year‐old children.…”