In the current study we aimed at evaluating the nature of the representation of multiplication fact knowledge and in particular the auditory-verbal component of multiplication facts.
Second, based on the eye fixation pattern recorded while participants performed the NBT, Moeller and colleagues [ 15] were able to associate the recognition of multiplicativity with fast and automatic activation of multiplication fact knowledge, because it specifically influenced eye-movement measures sensitive to stimulus driven bottom-up processing.
Nevertheless, only a few experimental studies addressed the nature of the mental representation of multiplication fact knowledge.
Three further sets of empirical evidence from studies employing exactly the same task indicate that it is indeed the retrieval of multiplication fact knowledge that drives the multiplicativity effect.
As the left angular gyrus is generally considered to be involved in the processing of multiplication facts (e.g., [ 4, 17- 19]), this observation strongly suggests that the multiplicativity effect originates from the recruitment of multiplication fact knowledge.
Considering this converging empirical evidence, it seems reasonable to assume the multiplicativity effect to originate from the recruitment of multiplication fact knowledge in the NBT.
Nevertheless, Nuerk, Geppert, van Herten, and Willmes [ 13] observed a reliable influence of multiplication fact knowledge on performance in the NBT (see also [ 14- 16]).
In the current study, we investigated the influence of concurrent articulation on multiplication fact knowledge without active production of multiplication results.
When the articulatory loop is loaded by articulatory suppression, activation of verbally represented multiplication fact knowledge is impaired so that multiplicative triplets may have to be evaluated via the default strategy of magnitude manipulation as well.
