This study analyzed the relative importance of different cognitive abilities for solving complex mathematical word problems (CWPs)—a demanding task of high relevance for diverse fields and contexts. We investigated the effects of spatial, verbal, numerical, and general reasoning abilities as well as gender on CWP performance among N = 1282 first-year university engineering students. Generalized linear mixed models unveiled significant unique effects of spatial ability, β = 0.284, verbal ability, β = 0.342, numerical ability, β = 0.164, general reasoning, β = 0.248, and an overall gender effect in favor of male students, β = 0.285. Analyses revealed negligible to small gender effects in verbal and general reasoning ability. Despite a gender effect in spatial ability, d = 0.48, and numerical ability, d = 0.30—both in favor of male students—further analyses showed that effects of all measured cognitive abilities on CWP solving were comparable for both women and men. Our results underpin that CWP solving requires a broad facet of cognitive abilities besides mere mathematical competencies. Since gender differences in CWP solving were not fully explained by differences in the four measured cognitive abilities, gender-specific attitudes, beliefs, and emotions could be considered possible affective moderators of CWP performance.

中文翻译：

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空间，口头，数字和一般推理能力在男女青年复杂单词问题解决中的作用

这项研究分析了不同认知能力对解决复杂的数学单词问题（CWP）的相对重要性，而CWP是与不同领域和环境高度相关的一项艰巨任务。我们调查了N = 1282名大学一年级工程学专业学生的空间，语言，数字和一般推理能力以及性别对CWP性能的影响。广义线性混合模型揭示了空间能力，β= 0.284，言语能力，β= 0.342，数值能力，β= 0.164，一般推理，β= 0.248和对男生有利的总体性别效应的显着独特影响。 0.285。分析表明，在口头和一般推理能力上，微小的性别影响可忽略不计。尽管空间能力的性别影响为d = 0.48，数字能力的影响为d = 0。30（均支持男生）的进一步分析表明，所有测得的认知能力对解决CWP的影响在男女中均相当。我们的结果证明，解决CWP不仅需要数学能力，还需要广泛的认知能力。由于无法通过四种测得的认知能力上的差异来完全解释CWP解决中的性别差异，因此可以将针对性别的态度，信念和情感视为CWP表现的可能情感调节剂。