Cognitive processing characteristics of 6th to 8th grade Chinese students with mathematics learning disability: Relationships among working memory, PASS processes, and processing speed

• We found that Chinese students with MLD had deficits in all working memory components and PASS model.
• MLD students have no deficits in processing speed.
• Working memory and PASS processing have high correlation.
• It is more efficient to anticipate the MLD students by combing both the working memory and PASS theory.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the cognitive processing characteristics of mathematics learning disability (MLD) students. A sample of 111 Chinese students (48 boys, 63 girls, Mean age = 11.97 years old) from 6th to 8th grades participated in this study, including 55 students who have MLD and 56 age and IQ-matched students who are performing good at mathematics. They were administered with the working memory tasks, processing speed tasks as well as Cognitive Assessment System (CAS), which was used to measure the planning–attention–simultaneous processing–successive processing (PASS). The results showed that the MLD students have deficits in central executive of working memory, visual–spatial sketchpad and phonological loop. Additionally, those MLD students were found to have extensive flaws in the PASS processes. However, no salient deficits were found in the processing speed of MLD students. Among all the cognitive processing, simultaneous processing, planning, and visual–spatial sketchpad were significant predictors to MLD.