The involvement of working memory in solving addition problems

Abstract

The present study employed a dual-task method to examine the role of working memory in assisting primary school age children to solve addition problems. The differences in working memory operations during the computation process between children who were more skillful and those less so were also investigated. A trend suggested that more central executive resource may be needed to assist children who are less skillful at solving addition problems. This supported previous findings which suggested that as children get more efficient at addition computation, they require less cognitive resource from working memory during the computation process. Moreover, current results suggest that children in primary three or below do not require phonological loop in addition calculations.