title: Processing false solutions in additions: differences between high- and lower-skilled arithmetic problem-solvers.
abstract: This paper focuses on the capacity to solve numerical incongruities in high- and lower-skilled arithmetic problem-solvers by investigating event-related brain potentials elicited by incorrect solutions to additions. Fifteen high-skill and fifteen low-skill individuals were presented with simple addition problems in a verification task. The proposed solution was manipulated by presenting correct solutions and incorrect solutions very close to the correct ones. Incorrect solutions elicited a negative component followed by a late positive component (LPC/P3b), whose amplitude was smaller for the low-skill group than for the high-skill group. Because the LPC/P3b amplitude has been taken as an indicator of the plausibility of the stimulus, this result suggests that incorrect solutions close to the correct ones appear more plausible to low-skilled individuals than to their high-skilled counterparts. This result is interpreted in terms of differences in the strength of association between problems and potential solutions depending on arithmetical skill.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Sciences Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Passeig Vall d'Hebron, 171, 08035 Barcelona, Spain. inunez@ub.edu
authors.forename: Maria Isabel
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Núñez-Peña
authors.forename: Macarena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suárez-Pellicioni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004569:Electroencephalography; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult