The Neurocognitive Architecture of Individual Differences in Math Anxiety in Typical Children

Jose M. García Santos,Charlotte E. Hartwright,Roi Cohen Kadosh,Francesco Sella,Alberto Inuggi,Flávia Heloísa Santos,Chung Yen Looi,Luis J. Fuentes,Carmen González-Salinas

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-26912-5

Abstract

Math Anxiety (MA) is characterized by a negative emotional response when facing math-related situations. MA is distinct from general anxiety and can emerge during primary education. Prior studies typically comprise adults and comparisons between high- versus low-MA, where neuroimaging work has focused on differences in network activation between groups when completing numerical tasks. The present study used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to identify the structural brain correlates of MA in a sample of 79 healthy children aged 7–12 years. Given that MA is thought to develop in later primary education, the study focused on the level of MA, rather than categorically defining its presence. Using a battery of cognitive- and numerical-function tasks, we identified that increased MA was associated with reduced attention, working memory and math achievement. VBM highlighted that increased MA was associated with reduced grey matter in the left anterior intraparietal sulcus. This region was also associated with attention, suggesting that baseline differences in morphology may underpin attentional differences. Future studies should clarify whether poorer attentional capacity due to reduced grey matter density results in the later emergence of MA. Further, our data highlight the role of working memory in propagating reduced math achievement in children with higher MA.

Highlights

Math Anxiety (MA) is characterized by a negative emotional response when facing math-related situations
Using data collected from a larger study, we sought to test the strength of association made by those predictions in that review, to better understand the neural and cognitive factors that are associated with the degree of anxiety towards mathematics
Each of the three Behavioural Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) indices of interest (INHIBIT, SHIFT, WORKING MEMORY), plus the PN and Woodcock Johnson III Achievement (WJ) were correlated with the Math Anxiety Scale (Math-AS) score

Summary

Introduction

Math Anxiety (MA) is characterized by a negative emotional response when facing math-related situations. Using a battery of cognitive- and numerical-function tasks, we identified that increased MA was associated with reduced attention, working memory and math achievement. Math anxiety (MA) is characterised by negative emotional response such as fear and tension when facing math-related situations, which cannot be reduced to either general anxiety or test anxiety[1] It disrupts mathematical performance irrespective of gender[2], and can emerge in the primary school years[3,4]. High- compared with low-level MA has been shown to be associated with increased activity in bilateral posterior insula, brain areas linked with threat and pain processing, when anticipating mathematical tasks[7]. Much of the prior literature has consisted of between-group comparisons and, whilst these have provided important insights on the plausible neural mechanisms of MA, the neural and cognitive architecture that contributes to individual differences in MA, and its association with mathematical achievement, remains unclear

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