De relatie tussen verbaal en visueel-ruimtelijk werkgeheugen en getalbegrip: Speelt sekse een rol?

Abstract

Aim: In the literature, number sense, visuospatial and verbal working memory are seen as predictors of mathematic skills. The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent visuospatial and verbal working memory are related to number sense of children in primary school and whether these relationships are different for boys and girls. Method: In the current study 98 children aged 6-10 years from 4 schools were tested. Verbal working memory was measured with a Word recall backwards task and visuospatial working memory was measured with an Odd one out task. Number sense was measured with a number line task from 0-1000. Results: A hierarchical multiple regression analysis and a Pearson’s correlation were executed to analyze the data. It was shown that working memory was not related to number sense. There was a difference between boys and girls for number sense and verbal working memory. The results showed that neither the relation between verbal working memory and number sense or the relation between visuospatial working memory and number sense was moderated by gender. Conclusion: Boys perform better on number line tasks, but girls score higher on verbal working memory. The results regarding the relation between verbal working memory and visuospatial working memory were inconsistent with the results from earlier research. More insight is still needed in the relationship between working memory and number sense. Possible explanations and directions for future research are discussed.