Simple arithmetic: not so simple for highly math anxious individuals.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Educational Psychology
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• Mathematical competence is built upon simple arithmetic skills learned in early education.
• Math anxiety is linked to poorer performance on complex math tasks, but its effect on basic arithmetic is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate neural differences in simple arithmetic processing between individuals with high and low math anxiety.
• To explore how math anxiety influences the approach to overlearned, less cognitively demanding math problems.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to capture brain activity during simple arithmetic tasks.
• A partial least squares analysis measured distributed whole-brain activity patterns related to performance.
• Participants were categorized into high and low math anxiety groups.

Main Results:

• Both groups performed well on simple arithmetic, but performance was linked to the fronto-parietal attentional network differently.
• Low math anxiety individuals showed better performance with less activation in this network, suggesting more automatic processing.
• High math anxiety individuals relied more on the fronto-parietal network for simple arithmetic.

Conclusions:

• Math anxiety influences the neural strategies used for even basic arithmetic problems.
• Individuals with lower math anxiety may employ more automated processes for simple calculations.
• These findings highlight distinct cognitive and neural approaches to fundamental mathematics based on anxiety levels.