title: Event-related potentials findings differ between children and adults during arithmetic-fact retrieval.
abstract: Some cognitive abilities of arithmetical calculation depend on retrieval of arithmetic facts from long-term memory. Arithmetic-fact retrieval has been studied in adults through Event-Related Potentials (ERP) experiments. Such information in children, however, has been scarce. It has been reported that from the age of 9 years, children employ a memory retrieval strategy for solving simple multiplication problems. The present study compared arithmetical-fact retrieval in children and adults while they were being subjected to ERP recording. The subjects were asked to make judgments about solutions to simple multiplication problems. Both groups of participants displayed the so-called arithmetic N400 effect for incorrect solutions relative to correct solutions. Adults showed a posterior N400 effect, while children showed a widely distributed N400 effect. Children displayed a larger amplitude and longer latency arithmetic N400 component than adults; this observation could be due to children exerting greater effort involving more widespread cortical activation than adults to solve the experimental problems. The Late Positive Component (LPC), which follows the arithmetic N400 and has been described previously in adult subjects, was observed in the present adult subjects, but was present in children only for correct solutions. These results may indicate that, relative to adults, children showed slower memory retrieval and a different pattern of a verification mechanism for correct and incorrect solutions.
authors.affiliation: FES Iztacala, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México. bemapado@gmail.com
authors.forename: Belén
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Prieto-Corona
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Camacho
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Silva-Pereyra
authors.forename: Erzsébet
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marosi
authors.forename: Thalía
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Guerrero
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D008606:Mental Processes; D011939:Mental Recall; D011340:Problem Solving