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The influence of the place-value structure of the Arabic number ...

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Instead, it seems to involve different aspects that can be differentiated by <strong>the</strong> evaluation <strong>of</strong><br />

participants’ eye fixation behaviour. <strong>The</strong> current data indexed that both correctly recognizing<br />

<strong>the</strong> requirement <strong>of</strong> a carry (i.e., evaluating whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> unit sum is equal or larger than 10) as<br />

well as its execution (i.e., updating <strong>the</strong> decade sum by <strong>the</strong> carry) seem to be associated with<br />

increased processing demands <strong>of</strong> carry addition problems as compared to non-carry problems.<br />

In <strong>the</strong> long run, <strong>the</strong>re is <strong>the</strong> possibility that <strong>the</strong> finding <strong>of</strong> specific differences in <strong>the</strong> fixation<br />

patterns for carry and non-carry problems may be informative for understanding math<br />

impairments. For instance, evaluating <strong>the</strong> fixation pattern <strong>of</strong> children with poor ma<strong>the</strong>matical<br />

abilities may <strong>of</strong>fer <strong>the</strong> possibility to distinguish whe<strong>the</strong>r a required carry is just not recognized<br />

or ra<strong>the</strong>r not executed. Finally, <strong>the</strong> current study indicates that evaluating eye fixation<br />

behaviour in mental arithmetic can be a promising tool to identify <strong>the</strong> basic cognitive<br />

processes underlying complex behavioural effects such as <strong>the</strong> carry effect.<br />

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