Campbell J I, Fugelsang J
Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, 9 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, S7N 5A5, Canada.
Cognition. 2001 Jul;80(3):B21-30. doi: 10.1016/s0010-0277(01)00115-9.
Canadian university students (n=48) solved simple addition problems in a true/false verification task with equations in digit format (3+4=8) or written English format (three+four=eight). Participants reported their solution strategy (e.g. retrieval or calculation) after each trial. Reported use of calculation strategies was much greater with word (41%) than digit stimuli (26%), and this difference was exaggerated for numerically larger problems. Word-format costs on reaction time (RT) were correspondingly greater for large than for small problems, but this Format x Size RT effect was bigger for true than for false equations. The results demonstrate that surface format affects central, rather than only peripheral, stages of cognitive arithmetic.
加拿大大学生（n = 48）在一个对错验证任务中解决简单加法问题，题目以数字格式（3 + 4 = 8）或书面英语格式（three + four = eight）呈现等式。每次试验后，参与者报告他们的解题策略（例如，检索或计算）。报告显示，与数字刺激（26%）相比，使用文字格式时采用计算策略的比例（41%）要高得多，对于数值更大的问题，这种差异更为明显。对于大问题，文字格式对反应时间（RT）的影响相应地比对小问题更大，但这种格式×大小的反应时间效应在正确等式中比在错误等式中更大。结果表明，表面格式影响认知算术的核心阶段，而非仅仅是外围阶段。
