Serial order memory and arithmetic abilities in primary school children of different ages

Details

Supervisors

Crollen, Virginie ; Marlair, Cathy

Faculty

Faculté de psychologie, logopédie, sexologie et des sciences de la famille

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences psychologiques, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

Recent studies focus on the serial order working memory component, aiming to enhance our understanding of the association between mathematics and memory. In the serial order memory component, the order of items is relevant, whereas in the item memory component, it is more the identity of the items, their phonological and semantic properties (Majerus et al., 2009). There are different representational mechanisms involved in both, item and serial order working memory (Majerus, 2018). Current studies in young children found an association between the serial order working memory and arithmetic abilities, which remained significant while controlling for item working memory (Attout et al., 2014; Attout & Majerus, 2017; Attout & Majerus, 2022). In these studies, it is assumed that the association could decrease and only persist for more complex mathematical tasks with age, when calculation gets more overlearned and automatic. In the present study, the association between serial order memory and arithmetic abilities will thus be compared between two groups of children, one of children at the beginning of primary school and another at the end of primary school. It is hypothesised that the link between both factors will be stronger in the group of younger children. Indeed, an association between the item/serial order memory and arithmetic abilities could only be found in the younger children. The association was, however, not consistently observed between all arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction and multiplication) and all memory measures under investigation.