Fang Xie, Han Zhong, Qin Tang, Yuhang Liang, Lili Chen
The results showed that verbal short-term memory fully mediated the relationship between vocabulary and symbolic magnitude comparison, as well as between vocabulary and arithmetic problems However, no mediating effect of visuospatial short-term memory was found between vocabulary and current mathematical ability.
This study recruited 131 Chinese children aged 4 to 6 years and measured their forward counting, symbolic and nonsymbolic magnitude comparison, arithmetic problems, shape naming, vocabulary, and verbal and visuospatial short-term memory to explore the relationship between vocabulary, short-term memory, and mathematical ability. The results showed that verbal short-term memory fully mediated the relationship between vocabulary and symbolic magnitude comparison, as well as between vocabulary and arithmetic problems However, no mediating effect of visuospatial short-term memory was found between vocabulary and current mathematical ability. In addition, for nonsymbolic magnitude comparison and shape naming, only the direct effect of vocabulary was significant.