Abstract:

Previous research¹ established that there were two mediators which appeared to be relative to memory component and speed component of cognitive processing respectively in mental arithmetic in aging. This study, involving a totl of 172 adults between 20 and 79 years of age, were conducted to evaluate the relative importance of working memory in mental arthmetic in aging. Three interesting findings were obtained in this study. First, there were the significant interactions among age, working memory, and mental arithmetic complexity.Second, regression of mental arithmetic efficiency in higher working memory on in lower working memory revealed that mental arithmetic efficiency in higher w orking memo ry was 1.32 times as high as lower working memory approximately.Third, Hierarchical regression analysis was used to evaluate the contribution of working memory to mentalarithmetic in aging w hich w as in the range of 30%-5000.These results led us to conclude that working memory play an important role in adult age differences in mental arithmetic.

Key words: working memory, mental arithmetic, age