Dataset Information

Arithmetic Skill May Refine the Performance of Individuals with High Math Anxiety, Especially in the Calculation Task: An ERP Study.

ABSTRACT: As a global phenomenon, the theme of math anxiety has received increasing attention. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between math anxiety and performance and determine the role of arithmetic skill in two different tasks. Fifty-seven college freshmen were recruited to perform a comparison task and a calculation task. Only main effect of arithmetic skill was found on the behavioral level. In the comparison task, participants with high math anxiety (HMA) showed faster latencies and greater amplitudes of N1 and longer P3b latency relative to their counterparts with low math anxiety (LMA). Number, as a negative stimulus, occupied attentional resources and delayed the speed of cognitive processing for individuals with HMA. Furthermore, among those with HMA, individuals with high arithmetic skill showed larger amplitudes and shorter latencies of P2 compared with those with low airthmetic skill in the calculation task. Thus, arithmetic skill could refine the performance efficiency of individuals with HMA, especially in the calculation task. These results suggest that educational interventions emphasizing control of negative emotional responses to math stimuli will be more effective when considering different populations of mathematically competent individuals.

SUBMITTER: Huang B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6746767 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Arithmetic Skill May Refine the Performance of Individuals with High Math Anxiety, Especially in the Calculation Task: An ERP Study.

Huang Bijuan B Zhao Xiaomeng X Li Hongxia H Yang Weixing W Cui Shuang S Gao Yaru Y Si Jiwei J

Scientific reports 20190916 1

As a global phenomenon, the theme of math anxiety has received increasing attention. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between math anxiety and performance and determine the role of arithmetic skill in two different tasks. Fifty-seven college freshmen were recruited to perform a comparison task and a calculation task. Only main effect of arithmetic skill was found on the behavioral level. In the comparison task, participants with high math anxiety (HMA) showed faster latenc ...[more]

PMID: 31527669

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Project description:BackgroundRecent cognitive and computational models (e.g. the Interacting Neighbors Model) state that in simple multiplication decade and unit digits of the candidate answers (including the correct result) are represented separately. Thus, these models challenge holistic views of number representation as well as traditional accounts of the classical problem size effect in simple arithmetic (i.e. the finding that large problems are answered slower and less accurate than small problems). Empirical data supporting this view are still scarce.MethodsData of 24 participants who performed a multiplication verification task with Arabic digits (e.g. 8 x 4 = 36 - true or false?) are reported. Behavioral (i.e. RT and errors) and EEG (i.e. ERP) measures were recorded in parallel.ResultsWe provide evidence for neighborhood-consistency effects in the verification of simple multiplication problems (e.g. 8 x 4). Behaviorally, we find that decade-consistent lures, which share their decade digit with the correct result (e.g. 36), are harder to reject than matched inconsistent lures, which differ in both digits from the correct result (e.g. 28). This neighborhood consistency effect in product verification is similar to recent observations in the production of multiplication results. With respect to event-related potentials we find significant differences for consistent compared to inconsistent lures in the N400 (increased negativity) and Late Positive Component (reduced positivity). In this respect consistency effects in our paradigm resemble lexico-semantic effects earlier found in simple arithmetic and in orthographic input processing.ConclusionOur data suggest that neighborhood consistency effects in simple multiplication stem at least partly from central (lexico-semantic') stages of processing. These results are compatible with current models on the representation of simple multiplication facts - in particular with the Interacting Neighbors Model - and with the notion of decomposed representations of two-digit numbers in general.

Dataset Information

Arithmetic Skill May Refine the Performance of Individuals with High Math Anxiety, Especially in the Calculation Task: An ERP Study.

Publications

Arithmetic Skill May Refine the Performance of Individuals with High Math Anxiety, Especially in the Calculation Task: An ERP Study.

Similar Datasets

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