Abstract
In an experiment using verification task procedures, 100 subjects responded to simple and complex problems of addition and multiplication. Identical structural parameters were found to model reaction time accurately to both addition and multiplication problems. Slope estimates for a memory network parameter did not differ significantly between simple and complex problems within an operation or between addition and multiplication problems. Both complex addition and complex multiplication problems were processed columnwise, with column sums or products being retrieved from an interrated memory network. The two types of complex problems included similar processes for carrying and for encoding of single digits, and both were self-terminated when an error in the units column was encountered. Addition and multiplication facts appear to be retrieved from a single interrelated memory network. A conceptual model for this interrelated network is discussed.
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The present study was supported in part by Grants No HD-14688 and HD-IM612 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the second author and by a grant from the Academic Computing Center of the University of California, Riverside.
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Geary, D.C., Widaman, K.F. & Little, T.D. Cognitive addition and multiplication: Evidence for a single memory network. Mem Cogn 14, 478–487 (1986). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202519
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202519