ABSTRACT
Cognitive psychology has revealed robust findings (effects) that characterize mental structures and processes related to human arithmetic performance. Various models with different theoretical assumptions have been proposed to satisfy these findings. In this article I propose a new model which simulates multiplication fact retrieval and evaluate its success. The proposal of a linear number scale and noise that occurs during synaptic transmission are the two primary theoretical assumptions of the new model that differentiate it from the previous models. Simulations with the model demonstrate that these two, biologically plausible, assumptions are sufficient to satisfy the three major sets of effects found in experimental studies of simple arithmetic, namely, problem size effect, error effects, and brain damage effects.
