Arithmetic on Your Phone: A Large Scale Investigation of Simple Additions and Multiplications.

We present the results of a gamified mobile device arithmetic application which allowed us to collect vast amount of data in simple arithmetic operations. Our results confirm and replicate, on a large sample, six of the main principles derived in a long tradition of investigation: size effect, tie e...

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Main Authors: Federico Zimmerman, Diego Shalom, Pablo A Gonzalez, Juan Manuel Garrido, Facundo Alvarez Heduan, Stanislas Dehaene, Mariano Sigman, Andres Rieznik
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0168431&type=printable
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author Federico Zimmerman
Diego Shalom
Pablo A Gonzalez
Juan Manuel Garrido
Facundo Alvarez Heduan
Stanislas Dehaene
Mariano Sigman
Andres Rieznik
author_facet Federico Zimmerman
Diego Shalom
Pablo A Gonzalez
Juan Manuel Garrido
Facundo Alvarez Heduan
Stanislas Dehaene
Mariano Sigman
Andres Rieznik
author_sort Federico Zimmerman
collection DOAJ
description We present the results of a gamified mobile device arithmetic application which allowed us to collect vast amount of data in simple arithmetic operations. Our results confirm and replicate, on a large sample, six of the main principles derived in a long tradition of investigation: size effect, tie effect, size-tie interaction effect, five-effect, RTs and error rates correlation effect, and most common error effect. Our dataset allowed us to perform a robust analysis of order effects for each individual problem, for which there is controversy both in experimental findings and in the predictions of theoretical models. For addition problems, the order effect was dominated by a max-then-min structure (i.e 7+4 is easier than 4+7). This result is predicted by models in which additions are performed as a translation starting from the first addend, with a distance given by the second addend. In multiplication, we observed a dominance of two effects: (1) a max-then-min pattern that can be accounted by the fact that it is easier to perform fewer additions of the largest number (i.e. 8x3 is easier to compute as 8+8+8 than as 3+3+…+3) and (2) a phonological effect by which problems for which there is a rhyme (i.e. "seis por cuatro es veinticuatro") are performed faster. Above and beyond these results, our study bares an important practical conclusion, as proof of concept, that participants can be motivated to perform substantial arithmetic training simply by presenting it in a gamified format.
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spelling doaj-art-ee7e600794bf4d3d9e4d24fbaa46315b2025-08-20T02:45:28ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-011112e016843110.1371/journal.pone.0168431Arithmetic on Your Phone: A Large Scale Investigation of Simple Additions and Multiplications.Federico ZimmermanDiego ShalomPablo A GonzalezJuan Manuel GarridoFacundo Alvarez HeduanStanislas DehaeneMariano SigmanAndres RieznikWe present the results of a gamified mobile device arithmetic application which allowed us to collect vast amount of data in simple arithmetic operations. Our results confirm and replicate, on a large sample, six of the main principles derived in a long tradition of investigation: size effect, tie effect, size-tie interaction effect, five-effect, RTs and error rates correlation effect, and most common error effect. Our dataset allowed us to perform a robust analysis of order effects for each individual problem, for which there is controversy both in experimental findings and in the predictions of theoretical models. For addition problems, the order effect was dominated by a max-then-min structure (i.e 7+4 is easier than 4+7). This result is predicted by models in which additions are performed as a translation starting from the first addend, with a distance given by the second addend. In multiplication, we observed a dominance of two effects: (1) a max-then-min pattern that can be accounted by the fact that it is easier to perform fewer additions of the largest number (i.e. 8x3 is easier to compute as 8+8+8 than as 3+3+…+3) and (2) a phonological effect by which problems for which there is a rhyme (i.e. "seis por cuatro es veinticuatro") are performed faster. Above and beyond these results, our study bares an important practical conclusion, as proof of concept, that participants can be motivated to perform substantial arithmetic training simply by presenting it in a gamified format.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0168431&type=printable
spellingShingle Federico Zimmerman
Diego Shalom
Pablo A Gonzalez
Juan Manuel Garrido
Facundo Alvarez Heduan
Stanislas Dehaene
Mariano Sigman
Andres Rieznik
Arithmetic on Your Phone: A Large Scale Investigation of Simple Additions and Multiplications.
PLoS ONE
title Arithmetic on Your Phone: A Large Scale Investigation of Simple Additions and Multiplications.
title_full Arithmetic on Your Phone: A Large Scale Investigation of Simple Additions and Multiplications.
title_fullStr Arithmetic on Your Phone: A Large Scale Investigation of Simple Additions and Multiplications.
title_full_unstemmed Arithmetic on Your Phone: A Large Scale Investigation of Simple Additions and Multiplications.
title_short Arithmetic on Your Phone: A Large Scale Investigation of Simple Additions and Multiplications.
title_sort arithmetic on your phone a large scale investigation of simple additions and multiplications
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0168431&type=printable
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