Abstract：
Adults shift their attention to the right or to the left along a spatial continuum when solving additions and subtractions, respectively. Studies suggest that these shifts not only support the exact computation of the results but also anticipatively narrow down the range of plausible answers when processing the operands. However, little is known on when and how these attentional shifts arise in childhood during the acquisition of arithmetic. Here, an eye-tracker with high spatio-temporal resolution was used to measure spontaneous eye movements, used as a proxy for attentional shifts, while children of 2nd (8 y-o; N = 50) and 4th (10 y-o; N = 48) Grade solved simple additions (e.g., 4+3) and subtractions (e.g., 3-2). Gaze patterns revealed horizontal and vertical attentional shifts in both groups. Critically, horizontal eye movements were observed in 4th Graders as soon as the first operand and the operator were presented and thus before the beginning of the exact computation. In 2nd Graders, attentional shifts were only observed after the presentation of the second operand just before the response was made. This demonstrates that spatial attention is recruited when children solve arithmetic problems, even in the early stages of learning mathematics. The time course of these attentional shifts suggests that with practice in arithmetic children start to use spatial attention to anticipatively guide the search for the answer and facilitate the implementation of solving procedures. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Additions and subtractions are associated to right and left attentional shifts in adults, but it is unknown when these mechanisms arise in childhood. Children of 8-10 years old solved single-digit additions and subtractions while looking at a blank screen. Eye movements showed that children of 8 years old already show spatial biases possibly to represent the response when knowing both operands. Children of 10 years old shift attention before knowing the second operand to anticipatively guide the search for plausible answers.
摘要：
成年人在解决加法和减法时，将注意力沿空间连续体转移到右侧或左侧，分别。研究表明，这些变化不仅支持对结果的精确计算，而且在处理操作数时也不可避免地缩小了合理答案的范围。然而,关于这些注意力转移在儿童时期在算术习得过程中何时以及如何出现的情况知之甚少。这里,具有高时空分辨率的眼睛跟踪器用于测量自发的眼球运动，用作注意力转移的代理，而2年级(8岁；N=50)和4年级(10岁；N=48)的孩子解决了简单的加法(例如，4+3)和减法(例如，3-2).凝视模式显示两组的水平和垂直注意力转移。严重的,一旦出现第一个操作数和操作员，因此在精确计算开始之前，就在4年级的学生中观察到了水平的眼球运动。在二年级，仅在做出反应之前的第二个手术后才观察到注意力转移。这表明当孩子们解决算术问题时，空间注意力被吸引，甚至在学习数学的早期阶段。这些注意力转移的时间过程表明，通过算术练习，儿童开始使用空间注意力来耐心地指导寻找答案并促进解决程序的实施。研究重点：增加和减少与成人左右注意力转移有关，但尚不清楚这些机制何时出现在儿童时期。8-10岁的孩子在看着空白屏幕时解决了一位数的加法和减法。眼球运动表明，8岁的孩子在知道两个操作数时已经表现出可能代表反应的空间偏差。10岁的孩子在知道第二个操作之前就转移了注意力，以耐心地指导寻找合理的答案。
