Work

Failure to replicate the benefit of approximate arithmetic training for symbolic arithmetic fluency in adults

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Previous research reported that college students' symbolic addition and subtraction fluency improved after training with non-symbolic, approximate addition and subtraction. These findings were widely interpreted as strong support for the hypothesis that the Approximate Number System (ANS) plays a causal role in symbolic mathematics, and that this relation holds into adulthood. Here we report four experiments that fail to find evidence for this causal relation. Experiment 1 examined whether the approximate arithmetic training effect exists within a shorter training period than originally reported (2 vs 6 days of training). Experiment 2 attempted to replicate and compare the approximate arithmetic training effect to a control training condition matched in working memory load. Experiments 3 and 4 replicated the original approximate arithmetic training experiments with a larger sample size. Across all four experiments (N = 318) approximate arithmetic training was no more effective at improving the arithmetic fluency of adults than training with control tasks. Results call into question any causal relationship between approximate, non-symbolic arithmetic and precise symbolic arithmetic.

Source: Cognition

DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104521

Authors: Emily Szkudlarek, Joonkoo Park, Elizabeth M. Brannon

Institutions: University of Pennsylvania, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Language: English

Topic: Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills

Subfield: Statistics and Probability

Field: Mathematics

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,450