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Abstract
Self-cues such as personal pronouns are known to elicit processing biases, such an attention capture and prioritisation in working memory. This may impact performance of tasks that have a high attentional load like mathematical problem-solving. Here, we compared the speed and accuracy with which children solved numerical problems that included either the self-cue ‘you’, or a different character name. First, we piloted a self-referencing manipulation with N=52 7- to 11-year-olds, testing performance on addition and subtraction problems that had either a single referent (‘You’/’Sam’) or more than one referent. We took into account operation and positioning of the pronoun, and also measured performance on attention and working memory tasks. We found a robust accuracy advantage for problems that included ‘you’, regardless of how many characters were included. The accuracy advantage for problems with a self-pronoun was not statistically associated with individual differences in attention or working memory. In our main study (9 to 11-year-olds, N=144), we manipulated problem difficulty by creating consistently- and inconsistently-worded addition and subtraction problems. We found significantly higher speed and accuracy for problems that included ‘you’. However, this effect varied by task difficulty, with the self-pronoun effect being strongest in the most difficult inconsistently-worded, subtraction problems. The advantage for problems with a self-pronoun was not associated with individual differences in working memory. These findings suggest that self-cues like the pronoun ‘you’ can be usefully applied in numerical processing tasks, an effect that may be attributable to the effects of self-cues on attention.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 308-325 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology |
Volume | 77 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 27 Apr 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2024 |
Keywords
- self
- self-referencing
- problem-solving
- attention
- numeracy
- development
- Self
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
- General Psychology
- Physiology (medical)
- Physiology
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