Presenting the '+' sign 150 ms before operands speeds up addition problem solving in expert older adults, replicating the effect found in young adults¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr1·q3·i3large
Currency · newest study 2018 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
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This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i3 In older adults with high arithmetic skills, solution times were faster when the '+' sign preceded operands by 150 ms than when sign and operands appeared together. → Thevenot 2018
Evidence¶
Thevenot 2018¶
Thevenot, C., Dewi, J., Bagnoud, J., Wolfer, P., Fayol, M., & Castel, C. (2018). The use of automated procedures by older adults with high arithmetic skills during addition problem solving. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED
q3 · i3 · causal · r1
Repeated-measures ANOVA on solution times in the sign priming experiment with 18 older and 26 young adults. "Problems were solved faster when the sign appeared before the operands (811 ms) than when it appeared at the same time (832 ms)", a 21 ms overall SOA effect, ηp2 = .34.
"There was also a main effect of SOA, F(1, 42) = 21.74, MSE = 90542.79, ηp2 = .34, p < .001. Problems were solved faster when the sign appeared before the operands (811 ms) than when it appeared at the same time (832 ms)."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Older adults were slower than young adults overall on solution times, with no age difference in accuracy — related
- Bayesian analyses strongly support sign priming for small addition problems in older adults but only anecdotal support for +1 problems — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
- Sign priming effects in addition occur for large, small, and +1 problems but not for tie or +0 problems in older adults — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
- Problem type modulated solution times, with large problems slowest and +1 problems fastest in both age groups — related
- Older adults' slowdown relative to young adults is far smaller for problems interpreted as procedurally solved than for retrieval-solved problems — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
sign-priming-addition-older-adults |
title |
Presenting the '+' sign 150 ms before operands speeds up addition problem solving in expert older adults, replicating the effect found in young adults |
description |
Presenting the '+' sign 150 ms before operands speeds up addition problem solving in expert older adults, replicating the effect found in young adults |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2018 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-17 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — thevenot-2018 |
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