The role of inhibition in overcoming arithmetic natural number bias in the Chinese context: Evidence from behavioral and ERP experiments

The natural number bias (NNB) in arithmetic operations refers to the application of natural number properties to reasoning about rational numbers. Previous studies found the NNB interferes with students' problem-solving. However, few studies have examined it in the Chinese context or the underlying mechanism by which it can be overcome. Addressing these gaps, in Experiments 1a (n symbolscript 31) and 1b (n symbolscript 30), we found that Chinese students demonstrate the NNB despite linguistic differences between Chinese and western languages. Experiment 2 (n symbolscript 38) adopted a negative priming paradigm and found that inhibitory control was necessary to overcome the NNB. Experiment 3 (n symbolscript 34) employed the event-related potential technique; we observed increased P2 amplitude when students solved congruent problems, and increased N2 and decreased P3 amplitude when they solved incongruent problems. These results indicated that the NNB is rooted in intuitive thinking, and overcoming this bias relies on inhibition.