Data interpretation is crucial in modern society. One common data structure that people frequently encounter is 2 x 2 tables. Past work suggests that the nature of the variables affects how people interpret 2 x 2 tables. Specifically, people interpret tables with symmetric variables (present/present; e.g., treatment A vs. treatment B) more accurately than tables with asymmetric variables (present/absent; e.g., treatment vs. no treatment). This study tested whether interpreting tables with symmetric variables could scaffold later interpretation of tables with asymmetric variables. Undergraduates interpreted tables and rated the importance of each cell to their interpretations. Some participants interpreted tables with symmetric variables before tables with asymmetric variables; others interpreted only tables with asymmetric variables. Participants who first interpreted tables with symmetric variables later judged cells in the bottom row of asymmetric tables to be more important. Thus, experience with symmetric variables shifted participants’ views of tables with asymmetric variables.

Humans are able to make sense of extraordinarily abstract concepts in mathematics (e.g., negative numbers). What is the underlying representation of these concepts? Integers extend natural numbers by including zero and negative numbers. To study the mental representation of integers, we employed a number comparison task in an online context. We replicated the previously-reported distance effect, in that far comparisons were faster than near comparisons. Namely, we observed reliable distance effects for positive and negative comparisons, and critically, an inverse distance effect for mixed comparisons. We conclude that the mental representation of integers may align with a hypothesis proposing the mental number line for negative numbers mirrors the natural number line. Moreover, we conclude that web-based data collection is a promising tool for future numerical cognition research.

We investigated the effect of gesture redundancy and speechdisfluency on listeners’ fixations to gestures. Participantswatched a speaker producing a redundant or non-redundantgesture, while producing fluent or disfluent speech. Eyemovements were recorded. Participants spent little time on aspeaker’s gestures regardless of condition. Gestureredundancy and speech disfluency did not affect listeners’percentage dwell time to a speaker’s gestures. However,listeners were more likely to fixate to a speaker’s gestureswhen they expected the gesture to be non-redundant.Listeners were also more likely to fixate to a speaker’sgestures when the speaker was disfluent. Thus, listenersallocate overt visual attention based on the expectedusefulness of a speaker’s gestures, although evidence does notsuggest that they spend more time fixating on these gestures.Furthermore, listeners are sensitive to disfluency in aspeaker’s utterance and change how they attend to gesturesbased on qualities of the speech.

Math talk has implications for the development of numerical concepts. Research suggests that when caregivers talk about natural numbers (1, 2, 3…), it may enhance children’s later math knowledge. Natural numbers have physical quantities that children can observe, yet abstract numerical concepts do not have such observable quantities. In this analysis, we examined how zero occurs in math talk. Using the CHILDES American English corpora (MacWhinney, 2000), we examined the frequency and nature of math talk about zero in naturalistic interactions between 2- to 6-year-olds and other speakers. Input from other speakers increased in frequency and complexity across development. Input with zero in symbolic sentential contexts (e.g., “one and zero make ten”) and cardinal sentential contexts (e.g., “zero means nothing”) increased with development. Children’s production of zero did not change in frequency or context. These results have implications for the concepts about zero children may bring to formal education.

Why do people shift their strategies for solving problems? Past work has focused on the roles of contextual and individual factors in explaining whether people adopt new strategies when they are exposed to them. In this study, we examined a factor not considered in prior work: people's evaluations of the strategies themselves. We presented undergraduate participants from a moderately selective university (N = 252; 64.8% women, 65.6% White, 67.6% who had taken calculus) with two strategies for solving algebraic word problems and asked them to rate these strategies and their own strategy on a variety of dimensions. Participants' ratings loaded onto two factors, which we label quality and difficulty. Participants' initial evaluations of the quality of the strategies were associated with whether they used the strategies at posttest, and this effect held even when controlling for individual and contextual factors. However, people's evaluations of the difficulty of the strategies were not consistently associated with their later adoption of those strategies. We also examined individual and contextual predictors of strategy ratings and strategy adoption. Participants' need for cognition and their spatial visualization ability were associated with their strategy evaluations, and the framing of the story problems was associated with their strategy adoption. The findings highlight that strategy adoption depends on multiple interacting factors, and that to understand strategy change, it is critical to examine how people evaluate strategies.

What factors affect whether learners adopt a new problem-solving strategy? Potential factors include learners’evaluations of alternative strategies and the degree of similaritybetween their existing strategy and the alternatives. A first stepin answering this question is investigating how people evaluatestrategies. This exploratory study investigated how peopleevaluate strategies for solving algebraic word problems, andhow these evaluations vary as function of individualdifferences. Undergraduates rated three strategies on sixdimensions and judged each pair of strategies for similarity.Factor analysis showed that evaluations could be reduced totwo constructs: efficiency and intuitiveness. We calculatedfactor scores for each participant for each strategy. Efficiencydid not predict similarity ratings on its own, but it did interactwith Need for Cognition. These results suggest stable learnercharacteristics and moment-to-moment evaluations ofstrategies influence judgments about strategy similarity.