Math anxiety differentially affects WAIS-IV arithmetic performance in undergraduates.

Area of Science:

• Neuropsychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Math anxiety is known to affect math performance.
• Its impact on working memory tasks in neuropsychological evaluations is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of math anxiety on working memory performance during neuropsychological assessment.
• To determine if math anxiety predicts scores on specific Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV Edition (WAIS-IV) working memory subtests.

Main Methods:

• 172 undergraduates completed measures of math achievement, math anxiety, general test anxiety, and WAIS-IV working memory tasks (Digit Span, Arithmetic, Letter-Number Sequencing).
• Statistical analyses were used to assess the predictive power of math anxiety on working memory performance, controlling for covariates.

Main Results:

• Math anxiety significantly predicted performance on the Arithmetic subtest.
• Math anxiety did not predict performance on the Digit Span or Letter-Number Sequencing subtests.
• These findings held true even after accounting for gender, general test anxiety, and overall math performance.

Conclusions:

• Math anxiety can negatively influence performance on specific working memory subtests, particularly Arithmetic, within a neuropsychological evaluation context.
• The Letter-Number Sequencing task may be a more suitable measure of working memory for individuals with high math anxiety.
• These findings have implications for clinical practice in neuropsychological assessments.