Mark, Indeed, this is an interesting and important question. I usually just retrieve the 'fact', but occasionally I count for certain sums that don't quickly come to mind, like 8+5 where I sometimes visualize five shapes, arranged like they are on a playing card, which I count up from 8. I remember coming up with this strategy in elementary school and using it only for certain sums that I had trouble remembering. It became a habit only for certain sums.
Although it is NOT my area of expertise, I know there has been a lot of research on this topic showing how there are individual, developmental, and cultural differences in mental arithmetic strategies. Some of this research has been done by a colleague of mine here at the University of Missouri, David Geary. A quick literature search also shows several recent, potentially relevant, articles by Jamie Cambell at the University of Saskatchewan. The locations of their web home pages are listed below. I could email you one of David Geary's articles (about strategy choices by children in simple and complex addition) if you contact me off-line. David C. Geary, Chair and Professor, Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri http://www.missouri.edu/~psycorie/ Jamie Campbell, Professor, Department of Psychology,University of Saskatchewan. http://duke.usask.ca/~campbelj/work/Jamie_Campbelx.html J Scott Saults Department of Psychological Sciences University of Missouri Columbia, MO >Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 20:38:57 -0800 >From: Mark Swindell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >I've got a question I'd be interested in hearing from as many of the >list as care to respond. >It's this: How do you mentally process simple addition/subtraction >facts? What actually happens in your brain to elicit 16 when you hear >7+9? (for example) _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [email protected] http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
