The Neurocognitive Architecture of Individual Differences in Math Anxiety in Typical Children

Abstract

2Math Anxiety (MA) is characterized by a negative emotional response when facing mathrelated situations. MA is distinct from general anxiety and can emerge during primary education. Prior studies typically comprise adults and comparisons between high-versus low-MA, where neuroimaging work has focused on differences in network activation between groups when completing numerical tasks. The present study used voxel-based morphometry to identify the structural brain correlates of MA in a sample of 79 healthy children aged 7-12 years. Given that MA is thought to develop in later primary education, the study focused on the level of MA, rather than categorically defining it as present or absent. Using a battery of cognitive-and numerical-function tasks, this study identified that increased MA was associated with reduced attention, working memory and math achievement. Increased MA was associated with reduced grey matter in the left anterior intraparietal sulcus. This region was also associated with attention, suggesting that baseline differences in morphology may underpin attentional differences. Future studies should clarify whether poorer attentional capacity due to reduced grey matter density results in the later emergence of MA. Further, our data highlight the role of working memory in propagating reduced math achievement in children with higher MA.

Relation of state- and trait-math anxiety to intelligence, math achievement and learning motivation

“…One further aim of the present survey was to investigate whether both MA types have a similar relation to general non-cognitive predictors of academic achievement, such as learning motivation. On the basis of earlier research on avoidance behaviour (Ashcraft & Faust, 1994;Ashcraft & Moore, 2009) and taking into consideration neuroscientific findings in math anxious individuals (Hartwright et al, 2018;Lyons & Beilock, 2012;Young et al, 2012), the hypothesis could be advanced that -in the case of generalization effects -math anxious children are less motivated to learn and more likely to avoid academic situations that require them to perform in front of others.…”

“…Math anxious individuals show a faster processing speed and a higher error rate, lack attentiveness, show lower participation in class and fleeting learning behaviour (Ashcraft & Faust, 1994, Ashcraft & Moore, 2009. Today, such avoidance behaviours can be explained by neuroscientific findings, which indicate that the experience of MA is associated with brain areas that are involved in pain processing and less so in executive functioning (Hartwright et al, 2018;Klados, Pandria, Micheloyannis, Margulies, & Bamidis, 2017;Lyons & Beilock, 2012;Suárez-Pellicioni, Núñez-Peña, & Colomé, 2013;Young et al, 2012).…”

Mathematics anxiety – where are we and where shall we go?

“…At the same time, studies using other measures [(neuro)physiological, cognitive] in that context are relatively scarce and rather focus on group level differences. Studies providing converging evidence from psychometric, (neuro)physiological, and cognitive data remain scarce [28][29][30][31][32][33][34] . Despite their relative difficulty in comparison to questionnaire administration, such studies can bring new insights into our understanding of MA.…”

Math Anxiety and Working Memory Updating: Difficulties in Retrieving Numerical Information From Working Memory

“…Miller and Bichsel, 2004;Passolunghi et al, 2016;Shi and Liu, 2016;Trezise and Reeve, 2016;Justicia-Galiano et al, 2017). Indeed, some authors have argued that WM could mediate the relationship between math anxiety and math achievement (Hartwright et al, 2018). Math anxious individuals would be prone to experience difficulties in tasks that involve storing and retrieving information in WM, performing mental operations and updating intermediate results.…”