Exploring the influence of basic cognitive skills on the relation between math performance and math anxiety

Abstract

What causes math anxiety? According to a cognitive deficits view, early weaknesses in basic number and spatial skills lead to poor performance and hence negative affect. A strong version of this view suggests that the relation between math anxiety and math performance among adults will be explained by deficits in spatial and basic number skills. In the present research, we tested a model to account for the relations among math anxiety, math performance, and cognitive skills (i.e., working memory, basic number and spatial skills) among adults (N = 90). We replicated the modest correlations observed between math anxiety and these cognitive skills. However, we did not find a direct link between basic number and spatial skills and math anxiety; instead, these relations were mediated by complex math performance. We conclude by rejecting the hypothesis that math anxiety in adults is linked directly to individual differences in spatial and basic numerical skills and suggest instead that the present results are consistent with the alternative view in which even basic numerical tasks, under certain conditions may evoke an anxiety response and mask skill proficiency. Finally, we note that caution should be applied when extrapolating correlational results to make causal claims about whether cognitive skills may be precursors in the development of math anxiety.Keywords: Math anxiety, cognition, basic number skills, spatial skills, cognitive deficits, working memory Math anxiety is a negative response to participation in mathematical activities that has consequences for adults' behavior (Ashcraft & Ridley, 2005;Hembree, 1990;Richardson & Suinn, 1972;Suárez-Pellicioni, Núñez-Peña, & Colomé, 2016). Math-anxious students avoid courses that involve mathematics (Ashcraft & Ridley, 2005;Hembree, 1990;Suárez-Pellicioni et al., 2016), they rate themselves as less skilled in math, have less intention to pursue further mathematics, and have lower math confidence than their peers (e.g., Hembree, 1990;LeFevre, Kulak, & Heymans, 1992). Notably, correlations between math anxiety and math performance are moderate and, thus in some models, reduced math competence is assumed to be a consequence of avoiding math-related courses and activities (e.g., Ashcraft & Ridley, 2005) rather than the cause of the anxiety.Recently, however, Maloney and colleagues have proposed a cognitive deficits model which links math anxiety more directly to individual differences in basic number and spatial competencies (Ferguson, Maloney, Fugelsang, & Risko, 2015;Maloney, Ansari, & Fugelsang, 2011;Maloney, Risko, Ansari, & Fugelsang, 2010;Maloney, Waechter, Risko, & Fugelsang, 2012). According to Maloney (2016), "…a cognitive predisposition to the development of math anxiety that starts with a small deficit in the foundational skills and snowballs into a Journal of Numerical Cognition jnc.psychopen.eu | 2363-8761 larger and emotion-laden difference" (p. 408). Support for a cognitive deficits model of math anxiety in adults is limited to the identification of...

A Framework for Studying the Heterogeneity of Risk Factors in Math Anxiety

“…Supporting the argument that math anxiety is activated specifically during involvement with learnt numerical information, math-anxious individuals were found to exhibit a deficit in the counting (an exact symbolic linguistic skill strongly associated with formal schooling; Gallistel and Gelman, 1992; Cordes et al, 2001) but not in the subitizing range (an exact symbolic linguistic skill that usually develops in the preschool years), with working memory as a mediator of this effect (Maloney et al, 2010). Moreover, math-anxious individuals showed reduced accuracy in mental representations of learnt symbolic but not innate non-symbolic numerical magnitudes or innate spatial abilities (Maloney et al, 2011; Dietrich et al, 2015; Douglas and LeFevre, 2018).…”

How does mathematics anxiety impair mathematical abilities? Investigating the link between math anxiety, working memory, and number processing

“…Studies investigating the link between MA and math ability using a comprehensive test battery of both basic number processing and general cognitive abilities are scarce. A very recent contribution comes from Douglas and Lefevre [52] who investigated the influence of cognitive abilities and basic number skills on MA using SEM. They found that there was no direct link between neither cognitive abilities nor basic number skills to MA.…”

“…Instead, the authors found that complex math performance fully mediated the relations between basic cognitive skills and MA. In addition, there was no direct link between basic number processing and MA [52]. The link between MA and math abilities is likely complex and, as Douglas and Lefevre [52] noted, there are likely several factors that may be at play.…”

Set‐shifting ability is specifically linked to high‐school science and math achievement in Chinese adolescents

“…The Calculation Fluency Test (CFT) was used to index the participants' arithmetic ability (Douglas & LeFevre, ). The CFT consists of three subtests involving two‐term arithmetic problems on three separate A4 pages, and each subtest contains 60 problems.…”

“…In this study, Cronbach's α s for the addition, subtraction, and multiplication subtests were .95, .97, and .97, respectively. To simplify the subsequent analyses, the sum of the three subtests was used as a measure of arithmetic calculation ability (e.g., Douglas & LeFevre, ).…”