The relationships between working memory components and mental arithmetic performance in Chinese participants

The relationship between working memory and mathematical computations is intricate, with specific working memory subsystems (phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad) making selective contributions to different types of calculations (multiplication and subtraction). Here, we employed a dual-task paradigm to systematically examine the relationships between different working memory subsystems and various types of calculations. Participants who had received education in China performed subtraction and multiplication calculations under loads imposed on the central executive, phonological loop, and visuospatial sketchpad working memory subsystems. Additionally, we manipulated the difficulty of the calculations (simple, complex) and the level of working memory load (low, high). Analysis indicated that an increase in the phonological loop load affects multiplication calculations but does not impact subtraction calculations. Increasing the difficulty of multiplication affects the phonological loop but does not significantly affect the visuospatial sketchpad. This result is the first to reveal a specific association between the phonological loop and multiplication under conditions of varying working memory load and calculation difficulty. Furthermore, the findings observed under these dynamic conditions provide insights into the reasons behind inconsistencies in previous research.