Daroczy Gabriella, Meurers Detmar, Heller Jürgen, Wolska Magdalena, Nürk Hans-Christoph
Department of Psychology, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tübingen, Germany.
LEAD Research Network, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Cogn Process. 2020 Feb;21(1):105-125. doi: 10.1007/s10339-019-00948-5. Epub 2020 Jan 22.
Performance on word problems is influenced by linguistic and arithmetic factors, and by their interaction. To study these factors and interactions, we manipulated linguistic and arithmetic factors independently in a within-participant design that included complexity parameters (a) in the domain of arithmetic: carry/borrow (no-carry/borrow vs. carry/borrow), operation (addition vs. subtraction), (b) in the domain of linguistics: nominalization (nominalized vs. verbalized form), and (c) linking the two domains: lexical consistency (linguistic predicate locally consistent vs. inconsistent with mathematical operation). Response times of 25 students solving 320 one-step word problems were measured. All four factors showed a main effect on response times, and interactions between linguistic and arithmetic factors affected response times. These interactions were observed when the linguistic and arithmetic factors were conceptually linked. Our results highlight that not only the linguistic and arithmetic complexities of an item contribute to the difficulty of a word problem, but linguistic and arithmetic factors interact. We discuss the theoretical implications for the numerical and the linguistic domain as well as the possible impact of domain-general characteristics, such as working memory limitations as a potential reason for the observed interactions between numerical and linguistic attributes.
应用题的表现受到语言和算术因素及其相互作用的影响。为了研究这些因素及其相互作用，我们在一项被试内设计中独立操纵语言和算术因素，该设计包括复杂性参数：(a) 在算术领域：进位/借位（无进位/借位与进位/借位）、运算（加法与减法）；(b) 在语言领域：名词化（名词化形式与动词化形式）；以及(c) 连接两个领域：词汇一致性（语言谓语与数学运算局部一致与不一致）。测量了25名学生解决320道一步应用题的反应时间。所有四个因素都对反应时间有主效应，语言和算术因素之间的相互作用也影响反应时间。当语言和算术因素在概念上相关联时，会观察到这些相互作用。我们的结果表明，不仅题目中语言和算术的复杂性会导致应用题难度增加，而且语言和算术因素会相互作用。我们讨论了对数字和语言领域的理论影响，以及领域通用特征（如工作记忆限制）作为数字和语言属性之间观察到的相互作用的潜在原因可能产生的影响。
