Today I had a talk with a friend who told me that according to him, it is possible to "destroy" someone's ability to do math for his entire life by taking the person at age 5, telling him something totally wrong (for instance that the digits used in the decimal enumeration system are in order something like 8, 5, 4, 9, 2, 3, 0, 6, 1, 7 and calling them respectively "three", "seven", "one", "six" and so on) so that once the wrong information has been assimilated in the long-term memory it would be impossible for the person to correct and "overwrite" something that has been learned by heart.

Of course this example is an exaggeration, but I was wondering whether this would explain some difficulties people have who write hundreds of times the same mathematical errors like (a+b)^2=a^2+b^2, and other stuff like this, even after many mathematical teachers explain to them that they are wrong. My assumption here is that the "correct" way had not yet reached the long term memory, so it would have done less harm than in the first situation.

Do you agree with this idea or has it been challenged by cognitive studies? Is there something specific to mathematics here? I'd be very happy with more readings.

Today I had a talk with a friend who told me that according to him, it is possible to "destroy" someone's ability to do math for his entire life by taking the person at age 5, telling him something totally wrong (for instance that the digits used in the decimal enumeration system are in order something like 8, 5, 4, 9, 2, 3, 0, 6, 1, 7 and calling them respectively "three", "seven", "one", "six" and so on) so that once the wrong information has been assimilated in the long-term memory it would be impossible for the person to correct and "overwrite" something that has been learned by heart.

Of course this example is an exaggeration, but I was wondering whether this would explain some difficulties people have who write hundreds of times the same mathematical errors like (a+b)²=a²+b², and other stuff like this, even after many mathematical teachers explain to them that they are wrong. My assumption here is that the "correct" way had not yet reached the long term memory, so it would have done less harm than in the first situation.

Do you agree with this idea or has it been challenged by cognitive studies? Is there something specific to mathematics here? I'd be very happy with more readings.

today I had a talk with a friend which told me that according to him, it is possible to "destroy" someone's abilities in doing maths for his entire life: take the person at age 5, learn him something totally wrong (for instance that the digits used for decimal numeration system are in order something like 8, 5, 4, 9, 2, 3, 0, 6, 1, 7 and call them respectively "three", "seven", "one", "six" and so on) so that once the wrong information has been assimilated in the long-term memory, it would be impossible for the person to correct and "overwrite" something that has been learn by heart.

Of course this example is exaggerated, but I was wondering whether this would explain some difficulties with people writing hundreds of time the same mathematical errors like (a+b)^2=a^2+b^2 and other stuff like this, even after many mathematical teachers explain them they are wrong (my assumption here is that the "correct" way has not reach yet the long term memory, so it would done less harm than in the first situation).

Do you agree with this idea or it has been challenged by cognitive studies? Is there something specific to mathematics here? I'd be very happy with more readings; thanks in advance for your comments and suggested readings if you have :)

Today I had a talk with a friend who told me that according to him, it is possible to "destroy" someone's ability to do math for his entire life by taking the person at age 5, telling him something totally wrong (for instance that the digits used in the decimal enumeration system are in order something like 8, 5, 4, 9, 2, 3, 0, 6, 1, 7 and calling them respectively "three", "seven", "one", "six" and so on) so that once the wrong information has been assimilated in the long-term memory it would be impossible for the person to correct and "overwrite" something that has been learned by heart.

Of course this example is an exaggeration, but I was wondering whether this would explain some difficulties people have who write hundreds of times the same mathematical errors like (a+b)^2=a^2+b^2, and other stuff like this, even after many mathematical teachers explain to them that they are wrong. My assumption here is that the "correct" way had not yet reached the long term memory, so it would have done less harm than in the first situation.

Do you agree with this idea or has it been challenged by cognitive studies? Is there something specific to mathematics here? I'd be very happy with more readings.