Subjects: Psychology >> Developmental Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Educational Psychology submitted time 2024-04-23
Abstract： As a crucial component of cognitive function, mathematical ability plays an essential role in an individual’s future development. Previous studies have highlighted significant differences in this ability between children from high and low family socioeconomic backgrounds. Executive functioning are the most reliable factor in explaining this disparity. However, fundamental questions remain about the mediating role of executive functioning in this relationship: (1) The role of specific subcomponents of executive functioning in their relationship. (2) The differences in the impact of socioeconomic status on various mathematical abilities through these executive functioning subcomponents. (3) The variations in the role of executive functioning in the relationship between socioeconomic status and both current and future mathematical abilities. Accordingly, our study explored the impact of socioeconomic status on the second and third graders’ mathematical operations, logical reasoning, and spatial imagination abilities, as well as the mediation role of interference inhibition, response inhibition, and working memory. A total of 185 second-grade students were followed for 20 months in two assessments. At the beginning of second grade, children were assessed on their working memory through forward and backward digit span tasks; their interference inhibition was assessed with the Stroop task; and their response inhibition was assessed via the Go/No-go task. Children’s socioeconomic status was assessed using their parents’ educational levels, occupational status, and Family Affluence Scale. The Chinese Rating Scale of Pupil’s Mathematics Abilities, which included subtests for addition, subtraction, number sequence, length estimation, and cube counting, was utilized to assess the children’s mathematical calculation, logical thinking, and spatial imagination abilities. We explored the main effects of socioeconomic status on children’s current and future mathematical abilities using structural equation modeling and simultaneously developed multiple mediation models to investigate how executive functioning components mediate these relationships. The results indicated that the three types of mathematical abilities in second graders showed significant improvement over the 20-month period; socioeconomic status in the second grade directly predicted mathematical abilities at the same grade level; and socioeconomic status could indirectly predict mathematical calculation abilities in the second grade and logical thinking abilities in the third grade through the mediating role of working memory. It is concluded that the present study extends previous research that has explored the mediation role of executive functioning between socioeconomic status and mathematical ability, demonstrating that working memory is a crucial cognitive factor that contributes to the explanation of this mechanism. It provides a scientific basis for educational and research professionals to develop interventions aimed at enhancing the mathematical abilities of children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： Mathematical ability is an important component of children's academic achievement and critical to individual development. Executive function, as an essential cognitive ability, is a core cognitive element that supports children's mathematical processing. However, there have only been a few studies focusing on the effects of each component of executive function on different mathematical abilities (mathematical operation, spatial imagination, and logical thinking). Primary school is the key period during which children acquire basic mathematical ability. However, limited studies have examined the developmental relationships between the various components of executive function and the different mathematical abilities of children at different grade levels. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to examine the role of each component of executive function in the different mathematical abilities of children at different grade levels.A total of 812 children in grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 completed tests covering mathematical operations, spatial imagination, and logical thinking to measure their basic mathematical ability. The Stroop task and the GO/NOGO task were used to measure interference inhibition and response inhibition. Children's working memory span was assessed using forward and backward digit span tasks. Children's working memory updating was investigated using simple and difficult digital updating tasks. Children's cognitive flexibility was examined using digit shifting tasks. Finally, a correlation analysis and a structural equation model (SEM) were used to investigate the impact of each component of executive function on children's mathematical abilities at different grade levels.The results revealed that working memory was the most important factor affecting children's mathematical skills, over inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. Specifically, working memory span was the most statistically significant predictor of ability with respect to mathematical operations, while working memory updating was a stronger predictor of spatial imagination and logical thinking ability from grade 3 to grade 6. In a further analysis of the data, we divided the four grades into two stages, with grades 3 and 4 set as the younger group and grades 5 and 6 set as the older group. The results showed working memory span to be the most important predictor of mathematical operation ability, spatial imagination ability, and logical thinking ability in the junior grades. In the older students, the predictive effect of working memory span on basic math ability dropped, and the effects of working memory updating and cognitive flexibility on basic math ability increased.These results indicate that different components of executive function play various roles in different mathematical abilities in school-age children, and that this pattern of influence appears to change as children progress through the grades. Specifically, the lower-order components of executive function components, specifically working memory span, were found to play an important role in the development of three mathematical abilities in younger students, while the higher-order executive function components, specifically working memory updating and cognitive flexibility, were found to play a more important role in processing mathematical tasks in older students.
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