Comprehension of algebraic expressions by experienced users of mathematics.

Full Abstract

Little is known about how people comprehend mathematical expressions. In the present study we investigate the internal representations used by experienced users of mathematics to encode algebraic expressions. Initially, a memory recognition task was conducted that examined the role of mathematical syntax in the encoding of algebraic expressions. The results indicate that participants could more readily identify those parts of a previously seen expression that were syntactically well formed than those that were not well formed, suggesting that syntax plays an important role. To determine the level of syntactic structure involved, a second recognition task was conducted. The results indicate that algebraic expressions are encoded into components that represent the phrasal constituents of the expression. However, the results of these experiments did not rule out the possibility that the visual processes of perceptual organization were used to encode the expressions, or that the data were a consequence of a mathematical "lexicon" of common mathematical "phrases". Three further experiments were conducted to examine this, the results of which indicate that the encoding of algebraic expressions is based primarily on processes that occur beyond the level of visual or "lexical" processing. This is consistent with our finding that syntactic structure plays a key role.

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Author information

Author/s: Jansen, Anthony R (AR); Marriott, Kim (K); Yelland, Greg W (GW);

Affiliation: School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Monash University, Victoria, Australia. tonyj(-atsign-)mail.csse.monash.edu.au

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology (Q J Exp Psychol A), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Jan; vol 56 (issue 1) : pp 3-30

Dates: Created 2003/02/17; Completed 2003/06/24; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12587893, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Comprehension - physiology
Humans

Mathematics
Memory - physiology
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Professional Competence
Reaction Time - physiology

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