The effect of mathematics anxiety on the processing of numerical magnitude

Abstract

In an effort to understand the origins of mathematics anxiety, we investigated the processing of symbolic magnitude by high mathematics-anxious (HMA) and low mathematics-anxious (LMA) individuals by examining their performance on two variants of the symbolic numerical comparison task. In two experiments, a numerical distance by mathematics anxiety (MA) interaction was obtained, demonstrating that the effect of numerical distance on response times was larger for HMA than for LMA individuals. These data support the claim that HMA individuals have less precise representations of numerical magnitude than their LMA peers, suggesting that MA is associated with low-level numerical deficits that compromise the development of higher level mathematical skills.

Keywords:

• Numerical distance effect
• Numerical comparison
• Numerical cognition
• Mathematics anxiety

Notes

This research was supported by Discovery Grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to JAF and DA, and an NSERC PGS-D scholarship to EAM.

¹ An alternative account is that the NDE indexes the comparison process involved in numerical comparison, rather than numerical representation per se (e.g., Van Opstal, Gevers, De Moor, & Verguts, 2008). While we acknowledge that there is presently a debate with respect to what the NDE indexes, it is not important for the present investigation whether the NDE is an index of numerical representation or numerical comparison processes. Rather, what is important is that we accept that the NDE is indexing numerical magnitude at a very basic level. Nonetheless, the present paper will adhere to the widely accepted view that the NDE indexes overlap of numerical representations in order to facilitate the communication of the findings.