Arithmetic memory networks established in childhood are changed by experience in adulthood.
Neurosci Lett
; 584: 325-30, 2015 Jan 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25445361
ABSTRACT
Adult bilinguals show stronger access to multiplication tables when using the language in which they learned arithmetic during childhood (LA+) than the other language (LA-), implying language-specific encoding of math facts. However, most bilinguals use LA+ throughout their life, confounding the impact of encoding and use. We tested if using arithmetic facts in LA- could reduce this LA- disadvantage. We measured event related brain potentials while bilingual teachers judged the correctness of multiplication problems in each of their languages. Critically, each teacher taught arithmetic in either LA+ or LA-. Earlier N400 peak latency was observed in both groups for the teaching than non-teaching language, showing more efficient access to these facts with use. LA+ teachers maintained an LA+ advantage, while LA- teachers showed equivalent N400 congruency effects (for incorrect versus correct solutions) in both languages. LA- teachers also showed a late positive component that may reflect conflict monitoring between their LA+ and a strong LA-. Thus, the LA- disadvantage for exact arithmetic established in early bilingual education can be mitigated by later use of LA-.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Problem Solving
/
Multilingualism
/
Mathematical Concepts
/
Memory
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Neurosci Lett
Year:
2015
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States