Math-Lovers vs. Non-Lovers: Differentiating Memory Skill Through the Digit Span Test

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Digit span is limited to about six to seven digits for most people. Some recall as few as four or as many as ten and more. But do people who love Math have higher memory skill? With this, the researcher aimed to identify whether Math lovers and Non-Math lovers differ in terms of their memory skill.

METHODS

In order to gather data, the researcher used a digit span test which was created by Jacobs (1887), it has been recreated many times and many different variations have been done on it. the researcher randomly selected Grade 7 students in Emiliano Tria Tirona Memorial National High School who were given a questionnaire that will define them who were the Math-lovers and Non-Math Lovers. Students were grouped according to their choice and all of them were given the digit span test to identify their memory skill.

RESULTS

The researcher found that out of 45 participants, 29 students answered that they are Math-lovers while only 16 said that they do not love Math. Math lovers were able to memorize an average of 4.20 digits while non-Math lovers gained 4.13 only. on the other hand, t-test independent conducted using data gathered from the digit span test showed that there is no significant difference between the Math-lover and non-Math lover students in terms of the number of digits recalled or memorized since the computed t-value was 0.086 is lower than the critical value of 2.052 at 0.05 levels of significance.

DISCUSSIONS

Since Math lovers and non-math lovers have the same memory skill and almost recalled the same number of digits, this study proved that interest in math does not affect the memory of a person. Being a math lover does not entail higher memory in numbers.