Development of automaticity in retrieval of addition knowledge: A training study

Young-Shin Park, Purdue University

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine whether extensive training would alter the processes underlying young children's addition performance from reconstructive processes to automatic retrieval of facts. Children in the second grade were trained until their mean response times and errors on an addition verification task were equal to those of children in the sixth grade. Before and after training, automatic retrieval was assessed with number naming and number matching tasks. The effect of training on retrieval processes was evaluated by comparing changes in retrieval processes for children who were trained and who were not. The primary findings of the present study are as follows. (1) Retrieval of addition knowledge became more efficient with age. On both number tasks, addition knowledge was retrieved automatically in the sixth graders, but not in the second graders before training. (2) The effect of training was very systematic on overall response times. On the verification task, mean response times decreased significantly over training sessions. Similarly, on the number matching and number naming tasks, mean response times decreased significantly after training. (3) Unexpectedly, addition training did not affect retrieval processes. In the experimental group, automatic retrieval was observed on both number tasks. However, this tendency was not changed much from pretest to posttest, implying that automaticity observed in this group is not due to training per se. (4) The naming task assessed automaticity more reliably than the matching task over a week for second and sixth graders. However, estimates of automaticity from two number tasks were not related to each other for both age groups.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Kail, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Developmental psychology|Educational psychology|Mathematics education

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