Working memory as a predictor of written arithmetical skills in children: The importance of central executive functions

Abstract

The present findings demonstrate that working memory, in general, and the central executive, in particular, contribute to children's arithmetical skills. It was hypothesized that monitoring and coordinating multiple processes, and accessing arithmetical knowledge from long-term memory, are important central executive functions during arithmetical performance. The contribution of the phonological loop and the central executive (concurrent processing and storage of numerical information) indicates that children aged 9-10 years primarily utilize verbal coding strategies during written arithmetical performance.

Working Memory in Portuguese Children With Developmental Dyslexia

“…Furthermore, the presence of intact CE functioning in children with DD has also been reported (Kibby & Cohen, 2008;Landerl et al, 2009;van der Sluis, van der Leij, & de Jong, 2005). Numerous studies have found that CE predicted variance in reading decoding (Gathercole et al, 2006;Jerman et al, 2012;Nevo & Breznitz, 2011;Swanson & Ashbaker, 2000), reading comprehension (Sesma, Mahone, Levine, Eason, & Cutting, 2009;Swanson & Jerman, 2007), reading fluency (Berninger et al, 2006;Nevo & Breznitz, 2011;Swanson & Jerman, 2007), and mathematical ability (Andersson, 2008;Jerman et al, 2012). Conversely, some studies have not found a predictive effect of CE on reading accuracy and/or reading comprehension (Berninger et al, 2006;Sesma et al, 2009).…”

“…One point per trial was given for correct recall. The Trail (Part A and B), which is similar to the popular Trail Making Test, was chosen because it is another frequently used measure of CE functioning (Andersson, 2008;Baddeley, 1996;McLean & Hitch, 1999). In Trail-A, 25 encircled numbers were randomly distributed on a sheet of paper.…”

Impact of Working Memory Training Targeting the Central Executive on Kindergarteners’ Numerical Skills

“…Indeed, as working memory abilities are important for learning mathematics (Jarvis & Gathercole, 2003;McKenzie, Bull, & Gray, 2003;Noël, 2009;Noël et al, 2004;Toll et al, 2011), higher working memory capacities should allow the learners to enter into learning more easily. Thus, we predicted an impact of training on counting, Arabic number comparison and calculation as number knowledge (Cohen Kadosh, Dowker, Heine, Kaufmann, & Kucian, 2013;De Smedt et al, 2009) and arithmetic (Andersson, 2008;Andersson & Lyxell, 2007;Barrouillet & Lepine, 2005;Cohen Kadosh et al, 2013;De Smedt et al, 2009) have been shown to be related to CE capacities and two previous working memory training studies observed an improvement in early numeracy after training (Kroesbergen et al, 2014;Passolunghi & Costa, 2014). In addition, collection comparison might be enhanced after training as Kroesbergen et al (2014) observed higher performance in a dot collection comparison task after working memory training.…”

Does it pay to practice? A quasi-experimental study on working memory training and its effects on reading and basic number skills

“…Studies show that WM-capacity is associated with a variety of skills (Alloway et al, 2005). Examples include reading (Reuhkala, 2001;Siegel & Ryan, 1989;Nation, 2006); writing and spelling (Swanson & Beringer, 1996;Swanson & Ramalgia, 1992); mathematics and other sciences (chemistry and physics) (Andersson, 2008;Geary, 2011;Gathercole, Pickering, Knight, & Stegmann, 2004a); and problem solving (Krumm, Ziegler and Buehner, 2008;Swanson, 2011). It has also been noted that WM is associated with behaviour ability and attention (Castellanos & Tannock, 2002;Mezzacappa & Buckner, 2010).…”