Over the last 2 weeks, all year 4 children in England have been assessed on their ability to quickly recall multiplication facts. But using these facts is about so much more than fast recall...
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Over 600,000 Y4 children in the UK are currently taking the Multiplication Tables Check. Our latest research highlights why learning multiplication facts is important and how to support children's learning www.sumproject.org.uk

Hopefully these findings are of interest to mathematical cognition researchers, in helping to clarify the role of executive functions in arithmetic, as well as to cognitive control researchers, in demonstrating contexts in which transfer of inhibitory control does(n't) occur. 6/6

We found no evidence of transfer of the LWPCE suggesting that while similar reactive, transient, trial-by-trial IC processes are involved in a Stroop task and multiplication retrieval (leading to the CSE) the proactive, sustained IC processes operating at a longer timescale differ. 5/6

Interestingly, the type of Stroop task didn’t matter suggesting it wasn’t dependent on the nature of the stimuli. In Exp 2 we examined the list-wide proportion congruency effect (LWPCE), where the congruency effect is reduced when incongruent trials are more frequent. 4/6

In Exp 1 we examined the congruency sequence effect (CSE), where a reduced congruency effect after an incongruent trial indicates transfer of inhibitory control. This was precisely what we found, suggesting similar inhibitory control processes in multiplication retrieval and Stroop-type tasks. 3/6

Our aim was to determine the role that inhibitory control (IC) plays in the retrieval of multiplication facts. We did this by interleaving a multiplication fact retrieval task with either an animal or number Stroop task. 2/6

New paper with @camillakgilmore.bsky.social now out at doi.org/10.1016/j.co.... A huge amount of blood, sweat and tears has gone into this paper (not to mention many, many hours of deep thought!) and I am so pleased it’s finally published. Summary to follow in the comments. 1/6

We have started doing a lot more small group and whole class research, which schools seem to prefer to individual testing. Read our top tips for success in this blog blog.lboro.ac.uk/cmc/2025/01/... by the fabulous @natashacguy.bsky.social