DO DIFFERENT MATHEMATICAL OPERATIONS INVOLVE DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF THE WORKING MEMORY MODEL?

Studies looking at the connections between working memory and children’s mathematical achievement are often limited by the general nature of the measures of either working memory or mathematics. In this study, thirty-five children in Year 5 (9 to 10 years of age) were given tasks designed to measure their phonological working memory, visual working memory, inhibitory skills and their mastery of addition and multiplication facts. The findings suggest that different components of the working memory model (Baddeley and Hitch, 1974; Baddeley, 1996) may be involved in these two different mathematical operations. WORKING MEMORY AND CHILDREN’S MATHEMATICS Working memory is a limited-capacity multi-component cognitive system responsible for the concurrent processing and storage of information in cognitive tasks. The current model comprises four components: a phonological loop responsible for the storage and rehearsal of speech based and phonological information, a visual-spatial sketchpad responsible for visual and spatial information and a central executive responsible for regulating the contents of working memory