Dc. Geary et al., ARE EAST-ASIAN VERSUS AMERICAN DIFFERENCES IN ARITHMETICAL ABILITY A RECENT PHENOMENON, Developmental psychology, 32(2), 1996, pp. 254-262
Younger and older American and Chinese adults were administered arithm
etic, perceptual speed, and spatial orientation tests. For the percept
ual speed and spatial orientation tests, the younger adults showed sub
stantial performance advantages over the older adults in both the Unit
ed States and China. For the arithmetic tests, the younger Chinese adu
lts outperformed the older Chinese adults, but the groups of younger a
nd older American adults had comparable arithmetical abilities. Cross-
national comparisons indicated that the younger Chinese adults outperf
ormed the younger American adults on the arithmetic tests, but not on
the perceptual speed and spatial orientation tests. The performance of
the older American and older Chinese adults was comparable for all of
the ability measures. The overall pattern suggests that the advantage
of Chinese adults over American adults in complex arithmetic might be
a relatively recent phenomenon.