Chinese kindergarteners skilled in mental abacus have advantages in spatial processing and attention

Previous studies have demonstrated that mental abacus learning could be helpful in improving mathematical skills. We hypothesized that kindergarteners skilled in mental abacus would have advantages in arithmetic and related visuospatial abilities. This investigation examined two large matched samples of preschool kindergarteners aged 5-6 years who showed the same baseline accuracy and speed measures. A total of 221 kindergarteners skilled in mental abacus (i.e., those who passed the test for Level 7 on the Standard Mental Abacus Test) and 221 age-matched peers with no experience using a physical or mental abacus were compared. We found that the mental abacus group achieved better performance than matched peers in subtraction, a two-dimensional mental rotation task, and a geometric form searching task, even after controlling for other cognitive abilities such as intelligence, reaction and decision speed, and non-symbolic number sense. These findings suggest that mental abacus learning in kindergarteners is associated with good performance in arithmetic, spatial, and attentional abilities.