Language and the algebraic mind.
Natural language is often depicted as the sine qua non of mathematical thinking, a view buttressed by findings of language-of-training effects among bilinguals. These findings, however, have been limited to studies of arithmetic. Here, we asked whether algebraic thinking differs. We trained Chinese–...
| Publicado en: | Memory & Cognition Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 59 - 73 |
|---|---|
| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Springer Nature
Jan2026
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=191289393&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 191289393 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 0090502X MEG jtl: Memory & Cognition issn: 0090502X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan2026 vid: 54 iid: 1 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 191289393 10.3758/s13421-025-01738-5 ppf: 59 ppct: 14 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 1.4MB tig: atl: Language and the algebraic mind. aug: au: Qin, Jike Opfer, John E. affil: https://ror.org/03zmrmn05 Department of Educational Studies, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, 215123, Suzhou, China https://ror.org/00rs6vg23 Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA su: Language & languages Problem solving Multilingualism Cognition Mathematics Replication (Experimental design) Pilot projects Experimental design Data analysis software Confidence intervals sug: subj: Language & languages Problem solving Multilingualism Cognition Mathematics Replication (Experimental design) Pilot projects Experimental design Data analysis software Confidence intervals keyword: Algebra Arithmetic Communication and Culture Linguistics Language Mathematical thinking Algebra Arithmetic Communication and Culture Linguistics Language Mathematical thinking ab: Natural language is often depicted as the sine qua non of mathematical thinking, a view buttressed by findings of language-of-training effects among bilinguals. These findings, however, have been limited to studies of arithmetic. Here, we asked whether algebraic thinking differs. We trained Chinese–English bilinguals and English monolinguals to solve arithmetic and algebra problems in either Chinese or English and tested them on new and old problems in both languages. In Experiments 1 and 2, bilinguals solved arithmetic problems faster in their trained than untrained language, and old arithmetic problems were solved faster than new ones. However, both the language-of-training and novelty effect were reduced or eliminated when learning algebraic rules. Strikingly, when English monolinguals were given Chinese problems, they successfully learned to solve the algebraic—but not arithmetic—problems. Together, the findings suggest that—unlike rote arithmetic—algebraic rules need not be encoded in natural language. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|