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The role of working memory in carrying and borrowing

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Abstract

The present study analyzed the role of phonological and executive components of working memory in the borrow operation in complex subtractions (Experiments 1 and 2) and in the carry operation in complex multiplications (Experiments 3 and 4). The number of carry and borrow operations as well as the value of the carry were manipulated. Results indicated that both the number of carry/borrow operations and the value of the carry increased problem difficulty, resulting in higher reliance on phonological and executive working-memory components. Present results are compared with those obtained for the carry operation in complex addition and are further discussed in the broader framework of working-memory functions.

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Notes

  1. Recently, a first attempt in this direction was made in an unpublished study in our lab. Complex multiplications (e.g., 16×8) were presented visually on which participants had to provide an oral response as soon as they had calculated the product. Phonological WM was loaded by presenting a five-letter string which participants had to repeat subvocally while calculating. An effect of phonological WM load was observed on accuracies but not on latencies. More specifically, accuracies tended to be lower under phonological WM load than in the control condition [t(19)=1.56; p=0.07; one-tailed]. Future research may elaborate on this issue.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grant no. 011D07803 of the Special Research Fund of Ghent University to the first author and grant no. 10251101 of the Special Research Fund of Ghent University to the second author. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ineke Imbo, Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 B-Ghent, Belgium (Ineke.Imbo@UGent.be).

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  1. Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Ineke Imbo, André Vandierendonck & Evie Vergauwe

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  1. Ineke Imbo
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  3. Evie Vergauwe
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Correspondence to Ineke Imbo.

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Imbo, I., Vandierendonck, A. & Vergauwe, E. The role of working memory in carrying and borrowing. Psychological Research 71, 467–483 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-006-0044-8

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