Longitudinal and cross-sectional perspectives on elementary school children's post-error slowing in reading and arithmetic.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the development of primary school children's error-related adjustments in reading and arithmetic, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. AIMS: We aimed to uncover monitoring-based cognitive control processes and often-overlooked strategy use in academic tasks requiring a balancing of speed and accuracy. SAMPLE: The final analytic sample consisted of N = 617 children completing the reading task (2nd grade: 328, 4th grade: 289), and N = 581 children completing the arithmetic task (2nd grade: 301, 4th grade: 280). METHOD: Children were tested on tablet-based tasks twice in 6 months: an arithmetic task (addition and doubling) and a silent word reading task. RESULTS: Children in both grades showed robust post-error slowing (PES) in both reading and arithmetic, indicating reliable monitoring and strategy use in the form of upregulating cognitive control mechanisms. Overall, post-error slowing was larger in arithmetic than in reading, larger in 4th than in 2nd graders and PES increased from T1 to T2, suggesting that task experience, improving monitoring skills and strategy discovery play an important role. In terms of the benefits of PES for performance accuracy, trial-level analyses showed that greater local slowing was generally associated with better post-error accuracy, consistently in arithmetic and partially in reading. CONCLUSIONS: Results are discussed in terms of often overlooked educationally relevant strategies in arithmetic, possible strategy utilization deficiency, developing monitoring and cognitive control skills in this age range and differing processing demands across academic domains.