Abstract

This study is intended to examine the development of retrieval of arithmetic facts in Korean children and adults. In Experiment 1, addition and multiplication problems were presented with three kinds of answers: correct answers, related incarrect answers (products for addition problems and sums for multiplication problems) or unrelated incorrect answers. Children in grade 3 and college students determined if the stated answer was correct. Children's and adults' responses to multiplication problems were slower and less accurate when the problems were presented with related incorrect answers than when the problems were presented with unrelated incorrect answers. In Experiment 2, the answers followed presentation of the small problems by 150, 540 or 930 msec. Children in grade 3 and college students determined if the stated answer was correct. Adults's responses to addition and multiplication problems were slower and less accurate when the problems were presented with related incorrect answers than when presented with unrelated incorrect answers. Children's responses showed a same trend only in multiplication. More importantly, interference effect was greatest at a SOA of 540 msec. The results of Experiment 1 and 2 suggest that arithmetic knowledge is represented in the associative network of related nodes and accessed by means of the spreading of activation through this network as was suggested in many current models.