Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

People report solving division problems by mentally recastingdivision problems as multiplication (e.g., 72 ÷ 8 à 8 × [?] =72). Mediation of division by multiplication occurs mainly onlarger problems. Eye tracking data was used to determinewhether patterns of gaze durations on division problemsprovided support for mediation. Adults solved divisionproblems in two formats: traditional (e.g., 72 ÷ 8 = [ ]) andrecasted (e.g. 72 = 8 × [ ]). Processing of individual problemelements was compared across formats. Results providesupport for mediation. Processing patterns for traditionally-formatted problems were more similar to those for traditionaldivision in earlier work (72 ÷ 8) whereas problems in recastedformat (72 = 8 × [ ]) were more similar to patterns foundwhen participants solved multiplication problems (e.g., 8 × 9).These findings provide a novel source of support fordifferential processing of problems across presentationformats.