Non-adaptive strategy selection in adults with high mathematical anxiety

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Mathematical anxiety (MA) is linked to difficulties in mathematical operations, particularly those with high working memory (WM) demands.
• Understanding the cognitive mechanisms behind these difficulties is crucial for developing targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the strategy selection mechanisms in college students with high versus low MA when solving addition problems with varying WM demands.
• To identify how MA influences the choice and efficiency of mathematical strategies.

Main Methods:

• Comparison of strategy use between high and low MA college student groups on simple non-carry and complex carry addition problems.
• Analysis of strategy selection patterns, focusing on the frequency of common versus unusual strategies in the carry condition.

Main Results:

• High MA participants demonstrated greater difficulty with complex carry addition problems compared to low MA participants.
• In carry conditions, high MA individuals less frequently used common strategies and more frequently employed unusual strategies.
• This suggests less efficient strategy selection in high MA participants for demanding mathematical tasks.

Conclusions:

• Inefficient strategy selection in high MA individuals may stem from weaker spatial representations, numerical processing deficits, or limited experience with complex problems.
• These less adaptive cognitive representations can impair performance on math tasks requiring substantial working memory.
• Targeting these underlying cognitive mechanisms could improve mathematical performance for anxious learners.