Serial order working memory and numerical ordinal processing share common processes and predict arithmetic abilities

Abstract

Recent studies have demonstrated that both ordinal number processing and serial order working memory (WM) abilities predict calculation achievement. This raises the question of shared ordinal processes operating in both numerical and WM domains. We explored this question by assessing the interrelations between numerical ordinal, serial order WM, and arithmetic abilities in 102 7- to 9-year-old children. We replicated previous studies showing that ordinal numerical judgement and serial order WM predict arithmetic abilities. Furthermore, we showed that ordinal numerical judgement abilities predict arithmetic abilities after controlling for serial order WM abilities while the relationship between serial order WM and arithmetic abilities was mediated by numerical ordinal judgement performance. We discuss these results in the light of recent theoretical frameworks considering that numerical ordinal codes support the coding of order information in verbal WM. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Numerical ordinal processes predict mathematical achievement in adults. Order WM processing predicts first mathematical abilities. What the present study adds? Numerical ordinal processes predict mathematical achievement in children and independently of order WM. The link between order WM and mathematical abilities was mediated by long-term ordinal processes.

Ordinality: The importance of its trial list composition and examining its relation with adults’ arithmetic and mathematical reasoning

“…In the order task, participants have to decide if a sequence is presented in an order or not. Results from previous studies have indicated that there is a strong relation between performance on the order task and arithmetic performance in both children (Attout & Majerus, 2017;Lyons & Ansari, 2015;Lyons et al, 2014;O'Connor et al, 2018O'Connor et al, , 2019Sasanguie & Vos, 2018;Sommerauer et al, 2020;Vogel et al, 2015) and adults (Goffin & Ansari, 2016;Lyons & Beilock, 2009;Morsanyi et al, 2017;Orrantia et al, 2019;Sasanguie et al, 2017;Sella et al, 2020;Vogel et al, 2017Vogel et al, , 2019Vos et al, 2017). However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain relatively underspecified.…”

Judging the order of numbers relies on familiarity rather than activating the mental number line

“…Renewed interest in symbolic number ordering has emerged following some recent studies, which have shown that number ordering is a stronger predictor of mathematical competence than symbolic number comparison in children from second grade onwards (Lyons, Price, Vaessen, Blomert, & Ansari, 2014;Sasanguie & Vos, 2018) and in adults (Sasanguie, Lyons, De Smedt, & Reynvoet, 2017). Accordingly, several other studies have demonstrated the relationship between symbolic ordering skills and the performance on a mathematical test (Attout & Majerus, 2017;Goffin & Ansari, 2016;Lyons & Ansari, 2015;Lyons & Beilock, 2011Lyons et al, 2014;Morsanyi, Mahony, & Mccormack, 2016;Morsanyi, van Bers, O'Connor, & McCormack, 2018;Rubinsten & Sury, 2011;Sasanguie & Vos, 2018;Vogel et al, 2017;Vogel, Remark, & Ansari, 2014;Vos, Sasanguie, Gevers, & Reynvoet, 2017). Moreover, it has been shown that children and adults with dyscalculia perform worse on a symbolic ordering task when compared with controls (Attout & Majerus, 2014;De Visscher, Szmalec, Van Der Linden, & Noël, 2015;Kaufmann, Vogel, Starke, Kremser, & Schocke, 2009;Morsanyi et al, 2018;Rubinsten & Sury, 2011).…”

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.…”