Switch costs and the operand-recognition paradigm |
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Authors: | Arron W S Metcalfe Jamie I D Campbell |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, 9 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5A5, Canada |
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Abstract: | Experimental research in cognitive arithmetic frequently relies on participants’ self-reports to discriminate solutions based
on direct memory retrieval from use of procedural strategies. Given concerns about the validity and reliability of strategy
reports, Thevenot et al. in Mem Cogn 35:1344–1352, (2007) developed the operand-recognition paradigm as an objective measure of arithmetic strategies. Participants performed addition
or number comparison on two sequentially presented operands followed by a speeded operand-recognition task. Recognition times
increased with problem size following addition but not comparison. Thevenot et al. argued that the complexity of addition
strategies increases with problem size. A corresponding increase in operand-recognition time occurs because, as problem size
increases, working memory contains more numerical distracters. However, because addition is substantially more difficult than
comparison, and difficulty increases with problem size for addition but not comparison, their findings could be due to difficulty-related
task-switching costs. We repeated Thevenot et al. (Experiment 1) but added a control condition wherein participants performed
a parity (odd or even) task instead of operand recognition. We replicated their findings for operand recognition but found
robust, albeit smaller, effects of addition problem size on parity judgements. The results indicate that effects of strategy
complexity in the operand-recognition paradigm are confounded with task-switching effects, which complicates its application
as a precise measure of strategy complexity in arithmetic. |
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