The Study of Automatic and Controlled Data Processing Speed Based on the Stroop Test in Students with Math Learning Disability

Introduction: The study of individual differences in information processing in order to predict the academic achievement of students with math disability is of great importance. The purpose of this study was to study automatic and controlled data processing speed based on the Stroop test in students with math learning disability. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was causal-comparative. The study population consisted of students in district 6 education in Tehran city. The sample consisted of 36 students with and without learning disability in mathematics (18 students with Math Learning Disability and 18 normal students), selected by systematic random sampling from the list of statistical populations (specific learning problems center) and matching method (normal group). The data were collected by demographic questionnaire, Raven's Progressive Matrices, Keymaths math test and Stroop test and analyzed by multivariate analysis of co-variance, Shapiro-Wilk test, Box and Levin tests. Results: The findings showed that automatic and controlled information processing in students with and without a math learning disability are significantly different. The mean of reaction time and number of errors in students with math learning disability is significantly higher than students without learning disability is math. Conclusion: According to the results of this study the speed of automatic and controlled information processing in students with math learning disability is weak (low) and educators should pay attention to this problem.