Citizen Science to Communicate about Public Health Messages: The Reach of a Playful Online Survey on Sitting Time and Physical Activity.

There is a lack of research on how to communicate public health guidelines. Citizen science (CS) has been an effective way to involve the public in research. This study analyses the reach of a well-established CS experiment, launched during an annual national science event, to understand if it could be used as communication strategy for public health issues.

Strategic flexibility in computational estimation for Chinese- and Canadian-educated adults.

The purpose of the present study was to examine factors that influence strategic flexibility in computational estimation for Chinese- and Canadian-educated adults. Strategic flexibility was operationalized as the percentage of trials on which participants chose the problem-based procedure that best balanced proximity to the correct answer with simplification of the required calculation. For example, on 42 × 57, the optimal problem-based solution is 40 × 60 because 2,400 is closer to the exact answer 2,394 than is 40 × 50 or 50 × 60.

Sixty-four or four-and-sixty? The influence of language and working memory on children's number transcoding.

Number transcoding (e.g., writing 64 when hearing "sixty-four") is a basic numerical skill; rather faultlessly performed in adults, but difficult for children.

Error adaptation in mental arithmetic.

Until now, error and conflict adaptation have been studied extensively using simple laboratory tasks. A common finding is that responses slow down after errors. According to the conflict monitoring theory, performance should also improve after an error.

The development of the SNARC effect: evidence for early verbal coding.

In a recent study, Gevers and colleagues (2010, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Vol. 139, pp. 180-190) showed that the SNARC (spatial numerical association of response codes) effect in adults results not only from spatial coding of magnitude (e.

Passive hand movements disrupt adults' counting strategies.

In the present study, we experimentally tested the role of hand motor circuits in simple-arithmetic strategies. Educated adults solved simple additions (e.g.

Cultural differences in strategic behavior: a study in computational estimation.

Imbo and LeFevre (2009) observed that Asians (responding in their 2nd language) selected strategies less adaptively than did non-Asians (responding in their 1st language). In the present research, we tested whether adaptive strategy selection is (a) really more resource demanding for Asians than for non-Asians or (b) more resource demanding for participants answering in a nonpreferred language. Three groups of participants were tested on a computational estimation task (e.

Bidirectionality in synesthesia: evidence from a multiplication verification task.

Color-grapheme synesthetes automatically perceive achromatic numbers as colored (e.g., 7 is turquoise).

The role of phonological and visual working memory in complex arithmetic for Chinese- and Canadian-educated adults.

Two experiments were conducted to test cultural differences in the role of phonological and visual working memory in complex arithmetic. Canadian- and Chinese-educated students solved complex subtraction problems (e.g.

Cultural differences in complex addition: efficient Chinese versus adaptive Belgians and Canadians.

In the present study, the authors tested the effects of working-memory load on math problem solving in 3 different cultures: Flemish-speaking Belgians, English-speaking Canadians, and Chinese-speaking Chinese currently living in Canada. Participants solved complex addition problems (e.g.

Do multiplication and division strategies rely on executive and phonological working memory resources?

The role of executive and phonological working memory resources in simple arithmetic was investigated in two experiments. Participants had to solve simple multiplication problems (e.g.

Practice effects on strategy selection and strategy efficiency in simple mental arithmetic.

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of practice on strategy selection and strategy efficiency in mental arithmetic. Participants had to solve simple addition or multiplication problems, after having received 0, 3, or 6 practice sessions (Experiment 1), and before and after having received 3 practice sessions (Experiment 2). Strategy selection was measured by means of trial-by-trial strategy reports, whereas strategy efficiency was measured by means of response latencies.

The influence of problem features and individual differences on strategic performance in simple arithmetic.

The present study examined the influence of features differing across problems (problem size and operation) and across individuals (gender, amount of daily arithmetic practice, calculator use, and arithmetic skill) on simple arithmetic performance. Regression analyses were used to investigate the role of these variables in both strategy selection and strategy efficiency. Results show that more skilled and highly practiced students used memory retrieval more often and executed their strategies more efficiently than did less skilled and practiced students.

Working memory, strategy execution, and strategy selection in mental arithmetic.

A total of 72 participants estimated products of complex multiplications of two-digit operands (e.g., 63 x 78), using two strategies that differed in complexity.

Effects of problem size, operation, and working-memory span on simple-arithmetic strategies: differences between children and adults?

Adult's simple-arithmetic strategy use depends on problem-related characteristics, such as problem size and operation, and on individual-difference variables, such as working-memory span. The current study investigates (a) whether the effects of problem size, operation, and working-memory span on children's simple-arithmetic strategy use are equal to those observed in adults, and (b) how these effects emerge and change across age. To this end, simple-arithmetic performance measures and a working-memory span measure were obtained from 8-year-old, 10-year-old, and 12-year-old children.

The role of working memory in the carry operation of mental arithmetic: number and value of the carry.

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the role of phonological and executive working-memory components in the carry operation in mental arithmetic. We manipulated the number of carry operations, as previous research had done, but also the value that had to be carried. Results of these experiments show that in addition to the number of carry operations, the value of the carry is also an important variable determining the difficulty of arithmetical sums.

The development of strategy use in elementary school children: working memory and individual differences.

The current study tested the development of working memory involvement in children's arithmetic strategy selection and strategy efficiency. To this end, an experiment in which the dual-task method and the choice/no-choice method were combined was administered to 10- to 12-year-olds. Working memory was needed in retrieval, transformation, and counting strategies, but the ratio between available working memory resources and arithmetic task demands changed across development.

The role of working memory in carrying and borrowing.

The present study analyzed the role of phonological and executive components of working memory in the borrow operation in complex subtractions (Experiments 1 and 2) and in the carry operation in complex multiplications (Experiments 3 and 4). The number of carry and borrow operations as well as the value of the carry were manipulated. Results indicated that both the number of carry/borrow operations and the value of the carry increased problem difficulty, resulting in higher reliance on phonological and executive working-memory components.