Role of Distraction on Children's Math Performance

Math is a key subject that paves the way for success in higher education and in many professional areas. Indeed, early math performance is closely and linearly related to future earnings. Research on math development and math learning has documented the main determiners of children’s math performance. Children’s performance in math is influenced by a variety of parameters, including participants’ characteristics (e.g., their age, school level, working-memory and executive control skills), stimulus features (e.g., problem size, side of larger operand), strategies (e.g., retrieval, counting), as well as situational or task environment (e.g., speed-accuracy pressures, culture). In addition to determining which factors influence children’s math performance and learning, research has focused on determining the key underlying mechanisms, as knowing these mechanisms is important for developing intervention to improve math education and math development. This project will contribute to this endeavour by examining how distraction influences children’s performance in math, by determining how its influence changes with children’s age, and by establishing which key individual characteristics are crucial in children’s sensitivity to distraction. By comparing children from Hong Kong and from France, this project will also further document cultural differences in math learning.

Funding Source: RGC - The French National Research Agency / RGC Joint Research Scheme