Zhang Yuxin, Tolmie Andrew, Gordon Rebecca
UCL Institute of Education, London WC1H 0AL, UK.
Brain Sci. 2022 Dec 22;13(1):22. doi: 10.3390/brainsci13010022.
Working memory (WM) plays a crucial role in the development of arithmetic ability. However, research findings related to which factors influence the relationship between WM and arithmetic skills are inconsistent. The present meta-analysis aimed to examine the links between WM and arithmetic in primary school children and investigate whether this is dependent on WM domains (i.e., verbal, visual, spatial), child age, arithmetic operation type, and arithmetic task type. A total of 11,224 participants with an age range of 6- to 12 years, from 55 independent samples were included in the meta-analysis. Analysis of 46 studies with 187 effect sizes revealed an overall significant and medium correlation between WM and arithmetic. Heterogeneity analyses indicated that verbal WM showed a stronger correlation with arithmetic than visuospatial WM, and that correlations between verbal WM and arithmetic declined with age, whereas correlations between spatial-sequential, and spatial-simultaneous WM and arithmetic remained stable throughout development. Addition and subtraction were more involved in verbal WM than multiplication and division. Moreover, mental and written arithmetic showed comparable correlations with WM in all domains. These findings suggest moderation effects of WM domains, age, and operation types in the WM-arithmetic relationship and highlight the significant role of verbal WM in arithmetic ability in primary school children.
工作记忆（WM）在算术能力发展中起着至关重要的作用。然而，关于哪些因素影响工作记忆与算术技能之间关系的研究结果并不一致。本荟萃分析旨在研究小学儿童工作记忆与算术之间的联系，并调查这是否取决于工作记忆领域（即言语、视觉、空间）、儿童年龄、算术运算类型和算术任务类型。共有来自55个独立样本的11224名年龄在6至12岁之间的参与者纳入了该荟萃分析。对46项研究（187个效应量）的分析表明，工作记忆与算术之间总体存在显著的中等程度相关性。异质性分析表明，言语工作记忆与算术的相关性比视觉空间工作记忆更强，言语工作记忆与算术之间的相关性随年龄增长而下降，而空间序列和空间同时性工作记忆与算术之间的相关性在整个发展过程中保持稳定。加法和减法比乘法和除法更多地涉及言语工作记忆。此外，心算和书面算术在所有领域与工作记忆的相关性相当。这些发现表明工作记忆领域、年龄和运算类型在工作记忆与算术关系中具有调节作用，并突出了言语工作记忆在小学儿童算术能力中的重要作用。
