Peters Greet, De Smedt Bert, Torbeyns Joke, Ghesquière Pol, Verschaffel Lieven
Centre for Instructional Psychology and Technology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2010 Feb;133(2):163-9. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2009.10.012. Epub 2009 Dec 5.
This study examined 25 university students' use of addition to solve large single-digit subtractions by contrasting performance in the standard subtraction format (12-9=.) and in the addition format (9+.=12). In particular, we investigated the effect of the relative size of the subtrahend on performance in both formats. We found a significant interaction between format, the magnitude of the subtrahend (S) compared to the difference (D) (S>D vs. S<D), and the numerical distance between subtrahend and difference. When the subtrahend was larger than the difference and S and D were far from each other (e.g., 12-9=.), problems were solved faster in the addition than in the subtraction format; when the subtrahend was smaller than the difference and S and D were far from each other (e.g., 12-3=.), problems were solved faster in the subtraction than in the addition format. However, when the subtrahend and the difference were close to each other (e.g., 13-7=.), there were no significant reaction time differences between both formats. These results suggest that adults do not rely exclusively and routinely on addition to solve large single-digit subtractions, but select either addition-based or subtraction-based strategies depending on the relative size of the subtrahend.
本研究通过对比标准减法格式（12 - 9 = .）和加法格式（9 + . = 12）下的表现，考察了25名大学生运用加法来解决大一位数减法问题的情况。具体而言，我们研究了减数的相对大小对两种格式下表现的影响。我们发现格式、减数（S）与差（D）的大小比较（S > D 与 S < D）以及减数与差之间的数值距离之间存在显著的交互作用。当减数大于差且S和D彼此相距较远时（例如，12 - 9 = .），加法格式下解决问题的速度比减法格式更快；当减数小于差且S和D彼此相距较远时（例如，12 - 3 = .），减法格式下解决问题的速度比加法格式更快。然而，当减数与差彼此接近时（例如，13 - 7 = .），两种格式之间没有显著的反应时间差异。这些结果表明，成年人并非完全且常规地依赖加法来解决大一位数减法问题，而是根据减数的相对大小选择基于加法或减法的策略。
