Article Accepted Manuscript

When Does the Story Matter? No Evidence for the Foregrounding Hypothesis in Math Story Problems

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Di Lonardo Burr, Sabrina M.
Turner, Jill
Nietmann, Jesse
LeFevre, Jo-Anne

Abstract / Description

Math story problems are difficult for many solvers because comprehension of mathematical and linguistic content must occur simultaneously. Across two studies, we attempted to conceptually replicate and extend findings reported by Mattarella-Micke and Beilock (2010) and Jarosz and Jaeger (2019). Mattarella-Micke and Beilock found that multiplication word problems in which an irrelevant number was associated with the protagonist of the problem (i.e., foregrounded in the text) were solved less accurately than problems in other conditions. Jarosz and Jaeger used similar materials but tested the more general inconsistent-operations hypothesis that association with the protagonist would interfere with multiplication whereas dissociation would interfere with division. They found partial support: When division problems were primed with dissociative scenarios, solvers made more errors, but they failed to replicate the associative findings for multiplication. In the present research, we conducted two studies (Ns = 205 and 359), in which we similarly manipulated whether irrelevant content was associated with or dissociated from the story protagonist. In these studies, we did not find support for either the foregrounding or inconsistent-operations hypotheses. Exploratory error analyses suggested that solvers’ errors were most often the result of calculation difficulties or inappropriate operation choices and were unrelated to the presence of associative or dissociative story elements. Our careful implementation of this manipulation and much greater power to detect effects suggests that the association manipulation in irrelevant text does not influence adults’ performance on simple math story problems.

Keyword(s)

word problems math performance numerical interference extraneous elements

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2021-04-10

Journal title

Journal of Numerical Cognition

Publisher

PsychArchives

Publication status

acceptedVersion

Review status

reviewed

Is version of

Citation

Di Lonardo Burr, S. M., Turner, J., Nietmann, J., & LeFevre, J.-A. (in press). When does the story matter? No evidence for the foregrounding hypothesis in math story problems [Author accepted manuscript]. Journal of Numerical Cognition. http://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4765
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Di Lonardo Burr, Sabrina M.
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Turner, Jill
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Nietmann, Jesse
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    LeFevre, Jo-Anne
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2021-04-10T07:59:03Z
  • Made available on
    2021-04-10T07:59:03Z
  • Date of first publication
    2021-04-10
  • Abstract / Description
    Math story problems are difficult for many solvers because comprehension of mathematical and linguistic content must occur simultaneously. Across two studies, we attempted to conceptually replicate and extend findings reported by Mattarella-Micke and Beilock (2010) and Jarosz and Jaeger (2019). Mattarella-Micke and Beilock found that multiplication word problems in which an irrelevant number was associated with the protagonist of the problem (i.e., foregrounded in the text) were solved less accurately than problems in other conditions. Jarosz and Jaeger used similar materials but tested the more general inconsistent-operations hypothesis that association with the protagonist would interfere with multiplication whereas dissociation would interfere with division. They found partial support: When division problems were primed with dissociative scenarios, solvers made more errors, but they failed to replicate the associative findings for multiplication. In the present research, we conducted two studies (Ns = 205 and 359), in which we similarly manipulated whether irrelevant content was associated with or dissociated from the story protagonist. In these studies, we did not find support for either the foregrounding or inconsistent-operations hypotheses. Exploratory error analyses suggested that solvers’ errors were most often the result of calculation difficulties or inappropriate operation choices and were unrelated to the presence of associative or dissociative story elements. Our careful implementation of this manipulation and much greater power to detect effects suggests that the association manipulation in irrelevant text does not influence adults’ performance on simple math story problems.
    en_US
  • Publication status
    acceptedVersion
  • Review status
    reviewed
  • Sponsorship
    This project was funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada through a Discovery Grant and an Equipment Grant to Jo-Anne LeFevre and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council doctoral fellowship to Sabrina Di Lonardo Burr.
    en_US
  • Citation
    Di Lonardo Burr, S. M., Turner, J., Nietmann, J., & LeFevre, J.-A. (in press). When does the story matter? No evidence for the foregrounding hypothesis in math story problems [Author accepted manuscript]. Journal of Numerical Cognition. http://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4765
  • ISSN
    2363-8761
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/4205
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4765
  • Language of content
    eng
    en_US
  • Publisher
    PsychArchives
    en_US
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.6053
  • Is version of
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.6105
  • Is related to
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.5220
  • Is related to
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.6105
  • Keyword(s)
    word problems
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    math performance
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    numerical interference
    en_US
  • Keyword(s)
    extraneous elements
    en_US
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    When Does the Story Matter? No Evidence for the Foregrounding Hypothesis in Math Story Problems
    en_US
  • DRO type
    article
    en_US
  • Journal title
    Journal of Numerical Cognition
  • Visible tag(s)
    PsychOpen GOLD
    en_US
  • Visible tag(s)
    Accepted Manuscript
    en_US