The effects of math anxiety on processing efficiency of cognitively demanding tasks – evidence from event-related potentials study

Recently emerging literature on academic performance outlines not only the importance of cognitive abilities such as general intelligence, working memory, or attentional control, but also increasingly acknowledges the... [ view full abstract ]

Recently emerging literature on academic performance outlines not only the importance of cognitive abilities such as general intelligence, working memory, or attentional control, but also increasingly acknowledges the detrimental effects of affective factors in academic competence. Math anxiety is one of such affective factors and it is conceptualised as a certain uneasiness and feelings of tension and apprehension when faced with situations involving mathematics. While there is a wealth of literature on behavioural data in math anxiety, there is a need for studies that will specifically address the timecourse of the eroding effects math anxiety has on performance in a range of cognitive tasks. The present study uses event-related brain potentials to investigate the possible processing difficulties that individuals high in math anxiety might face when processing both: correct and incorrect proposed solutions to a mathematical equation, as well as correctly and incorrectly written sentences. Twenty high-math anxious (HMA) and twenty low-math anxious (LMA) individuals were presented with three tasks: lexical, arithmetic, and algebraic, all of which were conceptualised to have varying degrees of cognitive demands placed on the central executive. The two groups did not differ in mathematical confidence, mathematical ability, or trait anxiety. No differences were found in reaction times and error rates, but we have shown that processing mathematical problems comes at a hidden cost that is otherwise not observable at the behavioural level. This effect was particularly outstanding in the algebraic task which was thought to recruit the most of cognitive resources, as compared to the lexical and arithmetic tasks. The incorrect proposed solutions in algebraic equations elicited an early positive component (P200) that has been previously associated with the mobilization of attentional resources when faced with emotionally negative stimuli. The P200 was more enhanced (higher amplitude) in HMA than LMA individuals. These results suggest that HMA individuals may have invested more cognitive resources when processing the incorrect proposed solutions, compared to their LMA peers. The study provides yet more evidence for the Processing Efficiency Theory (Eysenck & Calvo, 1992), as well as the Attentional Control Theory (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007).