Working memory resources in young children with mathematical difficulties

Abstract

Working memory (WM) (Baddeley, 1986, 1997) is argued to be one of the most important cognitive resources underlying mathematical competence (Geary, 2004). Research has established close links between WM deficits and mathematical difficulties. This study investigated the possible deficits in WM, language and fluid intelligence that seem to characterize 4- to 6-year-old children with poor early mathematical skills before formal mathematics education. Children with early mathematical difficulties showed poor performance in both verbal and visuospatial WM tasks as well as on language tests and a fluid intelligence test indicating a thoroughly lower cognitive base. Poor WM performance was not moderated by fluid intelligence, but the extent of WM deficits was related to language skills. The educational implications are discussed.

Working memory and mathematics in primary school children: A meta-analysis

“…This indicates that better working memory performance on each component is associated with better mathematical performance, as suggested in several studies (e.g., Geary et al, 2004;Kroesbergen et al, 2009;Passolunghi et al, 2008). The working memory component that showed the strongest relation with mathematical skills was verbal updating, whereas inhibition and shifting showed the weakest relations, confirming findings reported in previously published studies (Kolkman et al, 2013).…”

“…Inhibitory skills have also been found to reliably predict mathematics scores in typically developing young children (Bull and Scerif, 2001;Espy et al, 2004;St Clair-Thompson and Gathercole, 2006), and performance on inhibition tasks has been related to growth in mathematics scores across a time span of several months (Panaoura and Philippou, 2007). Moreover, inhibition has been found to already predict number sense, as an early form of mathematical proficiency (Kolkman, Hoijtink, Kroesbergen, & Leseman, 2013;Kroesbergen, Van Luit, Van Lieshout, Van Loosbroek, & Van de Rijt, 2009). However, differences between mathematics-disordered children and normal controls with regard to inhibition have not been found consistently (Censabella and Noël, 2008) and the involvement of inhibition in mathematical performance cannot be confirmed in every study (Andersson, 2008;Monette, Bigras, & Guay, 2011).…”

Number magnitude processing and basic cognitive functions in children with mathematical learning disabilities

“…Andersson & Lyxell, 2007 & Passolunghi, 2009;Kyttälä et al, 2010;Passolunghi & Cornoldi, 2008;Passolunghi & Siegel, 2004). One possible account of this non-significant finding is that this study was performed on 11-13 year old children, whereas prior studies observing a non-numerical verbal working memory deficit in children with MLD have included 9-10 year old children.…”

“…In spite of this, recent studies using a broad spectrum of working memory tasks (verbal and visual-spatial) demonstrate that children with MLD have deficits with both verbal and visual-spatial working memory functions (Andersson & Lyxell, 2007;Kyttälä, Aunio, & Hautamäki, 2010;Passolunghi & Cornoldi, 2008;Wilson & Swanson, 2001), whereas a few studies have found that MLD children only have a deficiency with visual-spatial working memory but not with verbal working memory (Andersson, 2010;Schuchardt, Maehler, & Hasselhorn, 2008).…”

Predicting children's mathematical performance in grade one by early numeracy

“…As stated by, for instance, Rittle-Johnson, and Siegler (1998), problems of validity can occur in studies suggesting that acquiring one type of knowledge has a causal influence on the future acquisition of another type of knowledge. Since such relationships could fully or partly be explained by a other variables, such as working memory (Kyttälä, Aunio, & Hautamäki, 2010) or motivation (Aunola et al, 2006;Gottfried, Marcoulides, Gottfried, Oliver, & Guerin, 2007), future studies should replicate the study of similar predictive relationships within a more comprehensive design. And even though Byrnes and Wasik (2009) convincingly reported that propensity factors (e.g.…”