The dynamic nature of children’s strategy use after receiving accuracy feedback in decimal comparisons

Ren, Kexin; Gunderson, Elizabeth A.

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105015

Cited by 10 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Abreu-Mendoza, Coulanges, Ali, Powell, and Rosenberg-Lee (2020) found that better inhibitory control was related to better performance on a discrete proportional reasoning task, specifically when the number of segments conflicted with the correct response. Ren and Gunderson (2021) report that children with better inhibitory control displayed less use of an incorrect whole number strategy during a decimal comparison, training task, and also at post-test. By contrast, one study to date did not find a role for inhibitory control in either symbolic fraction understanding and nonsymbolic proportional reasoning, in college students (Matthews et al, 2016).…”

Section: Types Of Inhibitory Control and Their Contributions To Rational Number Processingmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Avgerinou and Tolmie (2019) report that in a Go/No Go task, Go accuracy predicted performance on incongruent fraction and decimal comparison in low load situations, and that Animal Stroop performance scores explained additional variance in cases with higher cognitive load. Finally, Ren and Gunderson (2021) found that inhibitory control, as measured by the Hearts and Flowers task (Wright & Diamond, 2014), correlated with decimal comparison accuracy in 6 th -8 th grade children, during a training session and at immediate and delayed post-tests. By contrast, in adults, Matthews, Lewis, and Hubbard (2016) related nonsymbolic comparison capacities to symbolic fraction and general math skills, while controlling for inhibition.…”

Section: Role Of Inhibitory Control In Rational Number Understandingmentioning

confidence: 91%

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Linking inhibitory control to math achievement via comparison of conflicting decimal numbers

et al. 2021

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The relationship between executive functions (EF) and academic achievement is wellestablished, but leveraging this insight to improve educational outcomes remains elusive. Here, we propose a framework for relating the role of specific EF on specific precursor skills that support later academic learning. Starting from the premise that executive functions contribute to general math skills both directly -supporting the execution of problem solving strategies -and indirectly -supporting the acquisition of precursor mathematical content, we hypothesize that the contribution of domain-general EF capacities to precursor skills that support later learning can help explain relations between EF and overall math skills. We test this hypothesis by examining whether the contribution of inhibitory control on general math knowledge can be explained by inhibition's contribution to processing rational number pairs that conflict with individual's prior whole number knowledge. In 97 college students (79 female, age = 20.58 years), we collected three measures of EF: working memory (backwards spatial span), inhibition (color-word Stroop) and cognitive flexibility (task switching), and timed and untimed standardized measures of math achievement. Our target precursor skill was a decimals comparison task where correct responses were inconsistent with prior whole number knowledge (e.g., 0.27 vs. 0.9). Participants performed worse on these trials relative to the consistent decimals pairs (e.g., 0.2 vs. 0.87). Individual differences in the Stroop task predicted performance on inconsistent decimal comparisons, which in turn predicted general math achievement. With respect to relating inhibitory control to math achievement, Stroop performance was an independent predictor of achievement after accounting for age, working memory and cognitive flexibility, but decimal performance mediated this relationship. Finally, we found inconsistent decimals performance mediated the relationship of inhibition with rational number performance, but not other advanced mathematical concepts. These results pinpoint the specific contribution of inhibitory control to rational number understanding, and more broadly are consistent with the hypothesis that acquisition of foundational mathematical content can explain the relationships between executive functions and academic outcomes, making them promising targets for intervention.

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Section: Types Of Inhibitory Control and Their Contributions To Rational Number Processingmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Role Of Inhibitory Control In Rational Number Understandingmentioning

confidence: 91%

Linking inhibitory control to math achievement via comparison of conflicting decimal numbers

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The majority of studies examining inhibitory control have found positive associations with rational number outcomes (Abreu-Mendoza et al, 2020;Avgerinou & Tolmie, 2019;Coulanges et al, 2021;Gómez et al, 2015;Ren & Gunderson, 2021), but not all (Matthews, Lewis, & Hubbard, 2016;Park & Matthews, 2021). Notably, Matthews et al (2016) found that inhibitory control was not related to performance on a non-symbolic fraction comparison task or to conceptual understanding of rational numbers, nor was it related to symbolic fraction comparison (Park & Matthews, 2021).…”

Section: Executive Functions and Fraction Understandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although a handful of studies have looked at the role of working memory in fraction learning (Jordan et al, 2013), it is more frequently considered a control variable rather than a variable of interest (Bailey, Siegler, & Geary, 2014;Siegler et al, 2012). By contrast, a growing list of studies have examined correlations between inhibitory control and rational number comparison (Abreu-Mendoza, Coulanges, Ali, Powell, & Rosenberg-Lee, 2020;Avgerinou & Tolmie, 2019;Gómez, Jiménez, Bobadilla, Reyes, & Dartnell, 2015;Ren & Gunderson, 2021). Yet, these studies did not explicitly measure working memory.…”

Section: Executive Functions and Fraction Understandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Testing the whole number interference hypothesis: contributions of inhibitory control and whole number knowledge to fraction understanding

Leib¹,

Starr²,

Younger³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The present study tests two predictions stemming from the hypothesis that a source of difficulty with rational numbers is interference from whole number knowledge. First, inhibitory control should be an independent predictor of fraction understanding, even after controlling for working memory. Second, if the source of interference is whole number knowledge, then it should hinder fraction understanding. US children (N=765, 337 female) in 3rd, 5th, and 7th grade completed a battery of computerized tests. Inhibitory control predicted fraction task performance over and above working memory. Whole number knowledge predicted performance only for some forms of fractions. These results highlight a role for inhibitory control in rational number understanding and suggest that its contribution goes beyond inhibiting whole number knowledge.

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Verbal labels influence children's processing of decimal magnitudes

Jing

Ren

Gunderson

2023

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

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The dynamic nature of children’s strategy use after receiving accuracy feedback in decimal comparisons

Cited by 10 publications

References 49 publications

Linking inhibitory control to math achievement via comparison of conflicting decimal numbers

Linking inhibitory control to math achievement via comparison of conflicting decimal numbers

Testing the whole number interference hypothesis: contributions of inhibitory control and whole number knowledge to fraction understanding

Verbal labels influence children's processing of decimal magnitudes

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