ARE EAST-ASIAN VERSUS AMERICAN DIFFERENCES IN ARITHMETICAL ABILITY A RECENT PHENOMENON

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.