Visuospatial working memory and early math skills in first grade children

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between different components of active visuospatial working memory and math ability in young children. In a longitudinal study, we compared the contributions of active visual and spatial working memory (WM) tasks in early math performance at two times: the beginning of the first class of primary school (T1) and the end of the first class of primary school (T2). Two tests were conducted with 43 young participants to investigate active visual WM (Imaginative Puzzles) and active spatial WM (Corsi Backward). Measurements related to pre-math ability (BIN 4-6 test) at T1 and math skills (AC-MT 6-11 test) at T2 were accomplished. The relationship between visual and spatial WM and math ability was analyzed using a regression model in which the predictors were identified through a forward selection based on the use of the BIC index (Bayesian Information Criterion). Results show that at the beginning of primary school, basic knowledge of magnitude and numbers is strongly influenced by spatial WM. T1 pre-math performance is the sole predictor of mathematical performance at T2. These results suggest different implications of domain-general and domain-specific variable on early math performance, depending on the child’s development period. This finding brings additional evidence to the debate on the relationship between visuospatial WM and math ability in young children.