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The relationships among working memory, math anxiety, and performance.

M H Ashcraft1, E P Kirk

  • 1Department of Psychology, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, USA. m.ashcraft@popmail.csuohio.edu

Journal of Experimental Psychology. General
|June 21, 2001
PubMed
Summary

High math anxiety reduces working memory capacity, leading to more errors and slower reaction times in math tasks. This temporary working memory disruption impacts cognitive performance, especially under demanding conditions.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Educational Psychology

Background:

  • Math anxiety is a prevalent issue affecting academic performance.
  • Working memory capacity is crucial for complex cognitive tasks, including mathematics.
  • The interplay between emotional states and cognitive functions is an area of active research.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of math anxiety on working memory capacity.
  • To examine how reduced working memory affects performance on math-related tasks.
  • To explore the underlying cognitive mechanisms of math anxiety's influence.

Main Methods:

  • Assessing working memory span in individuals with varying levels of math anxiety using computation-based tasks.
  • Measuring reaction time and error rates during concurrent math and memory load tasks.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Evaluating performance on a working memory-intensive transformation task.

    • Main Results:

    • Individuals with high math anxiety exhibited smaller working memory spans, particularly on computation-based tasks.
    • Math anxiety led to increased reaction times and errors in mental addition tasks combined with memory load.
    • The negative effects of math anxiety on working memory generalized to other demanding cognitive tasks.

    Conclusions:

    • Math anxiety acts as a transient disruptor of working memory, impacting on-line performance in mathematical tasks.
    • Central executive processes are a potential mechanism underlying the observed working memory deficits.
    • Individual difference variables like math anxiety warrant further investigation in working memory research.