Math Anxiety in Combination With Low Visuospatial Memory Impairs Math Learning in Children

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Mojtaba Soltanlou¹  Christina Artemenko¹  Thomas Dresler²  Andreas J. Fallgatter²  Ann-Christine Ehlis²  Hans-Christoph Nuerk¹ 

[1] Department of Psychology, University of Tuebingen;LEAD Graduate School & Research Network, University of Tuebingen;Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien;Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Tuebingen;Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tuebingen

关键词: math anxiety;    math learning;    children;    individual differences;    visuospatial working memory;    processing efficiency theory;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00089

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Math anxiety impairs academic achievements in mathematics. According to the processing efficiency theory (PET), the adverse effect is the result of reduced processing capacity in working memory (WM). However, this relationship has been examined mostly with correlational designs. Therefore, using an intervention paradigm, we examined the effects of math anxiety on math learning. Twenty-five 5th graders underwent seven training sessions of multiplication over the course of 2 weeks. Children were faster and made fewer errors in solving trained problems than untrained problems after learning. By testing the relationship between math anxiety, WM, and math learning, we found that if children have little or no math anxiety, enough WM resources are left for math learning, so learning is not impeded. If they have high math anxiety and high visuospatial WM, some WM resources are needed to deal with math anxiety but learning is still supported. However, if they have high math anxiety and low visuospatial WM capacity, math learning is significantly impaired. These children have less capacity to learn new math content as cognitive resources are diverted to deal with their math anxiety. We conclude that math anxiety not only hinders children’s performance in the present but potentially has long-lasting consequences, because it impairs not only math performance but also math learning. This intervention study partially supports the PET because only the combination of high math anxiety and low WM capacity seems critical for hindering math learning. Moreover, an adverse effect of math anxiety was observed on performance effectiveness (response accuracy) but not processing efficiency (response time).

【 授权许可】

CC BY