摘要：Simple multiplications have been shown to interfere with the realization of
simple addi-tions in adults. There is also some evidence suggesting that
children’s performance in simple additions decreases when they are learning
multiplications. This study aimed at directly examining multiplication-related
interference in children who are learning to multiply. Thirty-eight
fourth-graders had to solve additions presented alone (control condition) or
immediately after a short multiplication task (interference condition). It
appeared that, in the interference condition, children were slower and used
direct memory retrieval less often to solve additions than in the control one,
indicating that multiplication-related interference occurs even in a developing
arithmetic facts network. Then, we examined two variables that could modulate
these multiplication-related interference effects: Inhibition and
multiplica-tions skills. We found that multiplication-related interference did
not vary as a function of inhibition capacities. On the contrary, when analysing
children’s performance in addition as a function of their abilities to solve the
counterpart multiplications, we found that children with poorer performances
showed greater interference effect. These findings are discussed in the light of
current models of arithmetic facts.
