Not all elementary school teachers are scared of math

in Journal of Numerical Cognition (2021)

Proportional reasoning in the bounded but not direct estimation in the unbounded number line task underlies the relation to arithmetics in second to fourth graders

Poster (2019, September)

Spatial Skills First: The Importance of Mental Rotation for Arithmetic Skill Acquisition

in Journal of Numerical Cognition (2019)

Implicit and explicit number-space associations differentially relate to interference control in young adults with ADHD

in Frontiers in Psychology (2018)

LEARN Newsletter - Édition 2018

Ouvrage publié par LEARN (2018)

Spatial skills first: The importance of mental rotation for arithmetic skill acquisition

Poster (2017, September)

Number-Space Associations as Indexed by the SNARC Effect – Their Relations to Mathematical Abilities and Anxiety & Their Underlying Cognitive Mechanisms

Thèse de doctorat (2017)

How Math Anxiety relates to Number-Space Associations.

in Frontiers in Psychology (2016), 7(1401),

Given the considerable prevalence of math anxiety, it is important to identify the factors contributing to it in order to improve mathematical learning. Research on math anxiety typically focusses on the ... [plus ▼]

Given the considerable prevalence of math anxiety, it is important to identify the factors contributing to it in order to improve mathematical learning. Research on math anxiety typically focusses on the effects of more complex arithmetic skills. Recent evidence, however, suggests that deficits in basic numerical processing and spatial skills also constitute potential risk factors of math anxiety. Given these observations, we determined whether math anxiety also depends on the quality of spatial-numerical associations. Behavioral evidence for a tight link between numerical and spatial representations is given by the SNARC (spatial-numerical association of response codes) effect, characterized by faster left-/right-sided responses for small/large digits respectively in binary classification tasks. We compared the strength of the SNARC effect between high and low math anxious individuals using the classical parity judgment task in addition to evaluating their spatial skills, arithmetic performance, working memory and inhibitory control. Greater math anxiety was significantly associated with stronger spatio-numerical interactions. This finding adds to the recent evidence supporting a link between math anxiety and basic numerical abilities and strengthens the idea that certain characteristics of low-level number processing such as stronger number-space associations constitute a potential risk factor of math anxiety. [moins ▲]

Math anxiety is predicted by the strength of number-space associations, over and beyond arithmetic ability and WM

Poster (2015, October)

Math skills are undeniably important in everyday life. Math anxiety can, however, threaten their optimal development. Given that a fifth of the population experiences high math anxiety, it is important to ... [plus ▼]

Math skills are undeniably important in everyday life. Math anxiety can, however, threaten their optimal development. Given that a fifth of the population experiences high math anxiety, it is important to identify its origins in order to improve mathematical learning. Research on math anxiety typically focusses on the effects of math ability, WM, and spatial performance. Recent evidence, however, suggests that it also depends on basic numerical processes, with high math anxious individuals featuring less precise numerical representations, as indexed by stronger distance effects. Another marker for the nature of numerical representations is the SNARC effect, alluding to their spatial organization. Although number-space associations depend on WM, spatial performance and arithmetic ability - all related to math anxiety - their relationship with the latter has never been tested. We thus determined whether math anxiety is related to the strength of number-space associations. All participants (n=60, 28 female) completed the r-MARS, the parity judgment, an arithmetic, and visuospatial WM task. We replicated previous findings on the negative relationships between math anxiety and arithmetic ability (r=-0.3, p=0.02), and WM (r=-0.29, p=0.03). But most importantly, we found a significant negative correlation between the SNARC effect and math anxiety (slope=-11.42, r=-0.43, p<0.001), with high math anxious individuals featuring greater interference of the irrelevant magnitude-associated spatial code. Interestingly, number-space associations were the only significant predictor of math anxiety in a multiple regression analysis. Our findings thus provide further evidence for the association between numerical representations and math anxiety, over and beyond arithmetic ability and WM. [moins ▲]

Inhibitory control influences number-space associations in atypical young adults with ADHD

Poster (2015, May)

Evidence for number-space associations comes from the spatial-numerical association of response-codes (SNARC) effect, consisting in faster reaction times (RTs) to small/large digits with the left/right ... [plus ▼]

Evidence for number-space associations comes from the spatial-numerical association of response-codes (SNARC) effect, consisting in faster reaction times (RTs) to small/large digits with the left/right hand respectively. The SNARC effect is, however, characterized by high inter-individual variability, depending amongst others on inhibition capacities. Hoffmann et al. (2014) showed that individuals more sensitive to the interference of irrelevant information in the classical color-word Stroop task displayed stronger number-space associations. This relation was most pronounced in elderly, but did not reach significance in young healthy adults. To determine whether the negligible correlation in the young resulted from their near ceiling performances on the color-word Stroop task, we recruited young adults featuring atypically weak and variable inhibitory control. Our study population consisted of individuals (n=32; 18 females; age=27.28 years) formally diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n=4) and/or displaying symptoms consistent with ADHD according to the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS-v1.1; n=29). Within this population, a significant negative correlation (r=-0.45; p=0.009) could be observed between the parity SNARC effect (mean slope=-14.17; p<0.001) and Stroop interference, as indexed by the color-word Stroop ratio score (i.e. the difference in RTs between the color-word interference condition and the color naming condition divided by the RT in the word reading condition; mean ratio=0.82). The relationship remained significant even after controlling for arithmetic performance and general processing speed, as assessed using the arithmetic battery (Rubinsten & Henik, 2005; Shalev et al., 2001; mean accuracy=84.61%) and a speeded matching-to-sample task respectively (mean RT=671.86ms; r=-0.47; p=0.008). Our findings thus reveal that stronger number-space associations are associated with weaker Stroop inhibitory control in young adults with atypical attentional profiles, thereby further confirming the similarities between SNARC effects and Stroop-like interference effects. [moins ▲]