Abstract:
The current study examined the relationship between mathematics achievement and
working memory and whether this relationship changes across levels of math education.
In addition to the effect of working memory on overall math achievement, its effect on
three specific areas of math achievement were investigated, including knowledge of basic
math facts, calculation skills and application of math concepts. Participants included 136
children and adolescents (age 6-16) who had undergone a comprehensive psychological
evaluation. Results indicate that greater auditory working memory capacity predicts a
higher level of math achievement in all areas. Auditory working memory explained
unique variance, above and beyond the contributions of verbal and nonverbal reasoning
and processing speed, in overall math achievement, fact fluency and applied problems,
but not calculation skills. The variance in achievement in overall math, fact fluency and
calculation skills explained by variance in working memory remained stable across two
age groups representing elementary and secondary levels of education. The relationship
between these two constructs increased across age for applied problem solving skills.
These results provide evidence for the theory that both elementary and secondary level
math achievement rely on auditory working memory. Theoretical and practical
implications of these results, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.
