scholarly journals Math anxiety and executive function: Neural influences of task switching on arithmetic processing

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Pizzie ◽  
Nikita Raman ◽  
David J. M. Kraemer
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Math Anxiety ◽  
Math Performance ◽  
Negative Thoughts ◽  
Neural Influences ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into

Math anxiety (MA) is associated with negative thoughts and emotions when encountering mathematics, often resulting in under-performance on math tasks. One hypothesized mechanism by which MA affects performance is through anxiety-related increases in working memory (WM) load, diverting resources away from mathematical computations. Here we examine whether this effect is specific to WM, or whether the impact of MA extends to an overall depletion of executive function (EF) resources. In this fMRI experiment, we manipulated two separate factors known to impact EF demands—task-switching (TS) and increased WM load—in order to evaluate how MA relates to behavioral performance and neural activity related to mathematical calculations. Relative to a difficult non-math task (analogies), we observed MA-related deficits in math performance and reduced neural activity in a network of regions in the brain associated with arithmetic processing. In response to TS demands, higher levels of math anxiety were associated with a pattern of avoidance and disengagement. When switching from the control task, high math anxiety (HMA) was associated with disengagement from math trials, speeding through these trials and exhibiting reduced neural activity in regions associated with arithmetic processing. The effects of math anxiety and WM were most pronounced at the lowest levels of WM load. Overall, the results of this study indicate that the effects of MA are broader than previously demonstrated, and provide further insight into how EF deficits in MA might impact recruitment of neural resources that are important for successful math computations.

scholarly journals Math anxiety and executive function: Neural influences of task switching on arithmetic processing

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel G. Pizzie ◽  
Nikita Raman ◽  
David J.M. Kraemer
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Math Anxiety ◽  
Neural Influences

scholarly journals A selective effect of dopamine on information-seeking

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Vellani ◽  
Lianne P de Vries ◽  
Anne Gaule ◽  
Tali Sharot
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Selective Effect ◽  
Reward Seeking ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Primary Reward

Humans are motivated to seek information from their environment. How the brain motivates this behavior is unknown. One speculation is that the brain employs neuromodulatory systems implicated in primary reward-seeking, in particular dopamine, to instruct information-seeking. However, there has been no causal test for the role of dopamine in information-seeking. Here, we show that administration of a drug that enhances dopamine function (dihydroxy-L-phenylalanine; L-DOPA) reduces the impact of valence on information-seeking. Specifically, while participants under Placebo sought more information about potential gains than losses, under L-DOPA this difference was not observed. The results provide new insight into the neurobiology of information-seeking and generates the prediction that abnormal dopaminergic function (such as in Parkinson’s disease) will result in valence-dependent changes to information-seeking.

scholarly journals Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Mediates the Relation Between “Specific Math Anxiety” and Arithmetic Speed

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiuqing Tang ◽  
Yun Su ◽  
Yu'e Yao ◽  
Hugo Peyre ◽  
Ava Guez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia ◽  
Math Anxiety ◽  
Math Performance ◽  
Mediation Effect ◽  
Arithmetic Task ◽  
Sinus Arrhythmia ◽  
Reading Anxiety ◽  
The Impact

There is a growing consensus that math anxiety highly correlates with trait anxiety and that the emotional component elicited by math anxiety affects math performance. Yet few studies have examined the impact of “specific math anxiety” (high math anxiety and low other kinds of anxiety) on math performance and the underlying physiological and affective mechanism. The present study examines the mediation effect of heart rate variability—an affective measurement indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)—in the relationship between specific math anxiety and arithmetic speed. A total of 386 junior high school students completed a self-reported questionnaire to measure their anxiety level. Among this sample, 29 individuals with specific math anxiety (high math anxiety and low reading and trait anxiety), 29 with specific reading anxiety (high reading anxiety and low math and trait anxiety), 24 with specific trait anxiety (high trait anxiety and low math and reading anxiety), and 22 controls (low math, trait and reading anxiety) were selected to participate in an arithmetic task and a reading task while RSA was recorded when they performed the tasks. Results revealed that individuals with specific math anxiety showed lower RSA and longer reaction time than the other three groups in the arithmetic task. Regression and mediation analyses further revealed that RSA mediated the relation between specific math anxiety and arithmetic speed. The present study provides the first account of evidence for the affective hypothesis of specific math anxiety and suggests that affective responses may be an important mechanism underlying the detrimental effect of specific math anxiety on math performance.

Rumination as a Moderating Effect Between Math Computation and Executive Function Skills in Elementary Students

2020 ◽  
pp. 082957352097308
Author(s):  
Melissa Kang ◽  
Anne-Claude Bedard ◽  
Rhonda Martinussen
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Elementary Students ◽  
School Psychologists ◽  
Coping Strategy ◽  
Math Performance ◽  
Mathematical Ability ◽  
It Impacts ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

Although students with stronger executive functions (EFs) tend to do better on math computation (MC) assessments than students with weaker EFs, stressful testing situations may lower or affect their mathematical ability. Rumination is one maladaptive coping strategy that can negatively affect EF processes, but little is known about how it impacts the relationship between EFs and MC. This study aimed to examine the relationship between students’ performance on a standardized MC task and ratings of EF ability as a function of their level of rumination. In a sample of students from Grades 4 to 6 ( n = 72, mean age = 10.74), there was an interaction between EF scores and rumination in predicting MC. Students with weaker EF scores demonstrated worse math performance than students with stronger EF scores. Interestingly, their level of rumination moderated this association. Specifically, EF difficulties were only associated with less proficient MC performance among high ruminators; this association was not observed among those students reporting low rumination levels. For school psychologists, these findings provide insight into the potential causes of poor MC performance among students with average or better EFs.

Neural Consequences of Infant Attachment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret A. Sheridan ◽  
Kim A. Bard
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Affect Regulation ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Attachment Relationships ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Negative Affect Regulation ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into

Typical studies of the impact of the quality and presence of attachment relationships on child development have focused on the child’s safe-base behavior. In terms of neurobiology, this has primarily led to investigations of the child’s control over negative affect. In nonhuman primates, early investigations into the neurobiological consequences of attachment used models where attachment relationships were absent or severely curtailed. Institutionalization of infants, a common practice, mirrors these early primate studies since attachment relationships are limited or absent. These investigations are based on models of disruptions in attachment and used here to illustrate the impact of attachment relationships on two neural systems not typically considered: the neural substrates of reward learning and the neural substrates supporting complex cognitive function such as executive function. While attachment is central to the development of negative affect regulation, it is argued that the context in which the brain develops can also serve as an additional focus of early attachment relationships. This offers insight into the multiple functions served by attachment, and thus the role it plays in the development of other neural systems.

Computational neurostimulation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ainslie Johnstone ◽  
James J. Bonaiuto ◽  
Sven Bestmann
Keyword(s):  
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Small Footprint ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into

Computational neurostimulation is the use of biologically grounded computational models to investigate the mechanism of action of brain stimulation and predict the impact of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on behavior in health and disease. Computational models are now widespread, and their success is incontrovertible, yet they have left a rather small footprint on the field of TMS. We highlight and discuss recent advances in models of primary motor cortex TMS, the brain region for which most models have been developed. These models provide insight into the putative, but unobservable, mechanisms through which TMS influences physiology, and help predicting the effects of different TMS applications. We discuss how these advances in computational neurostimulation provide opportunities for mechanistically understanding and predicting the impact of TMS on behavior.

scholarly journals Modelling the impact of structural directionality on connectome-based models of neural activity

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia Padmore ◽  
Martin R Nelson ◽  
Nadia Chuzhanova ◽  
Jonathan J Crofts
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Structural Connectivity ◽  
Directed Network ◽  
Fixed Point Attractor ◽  
Important Challenge ◽  
Brain States ◽  
Chemical Synapses ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Understanding structure--function relationships in the brain remains an important challenge in neuroscience. However, whilst structural brain networks are intrinsically directed, due to the prevalence of chemical synapses in the cortex, most studies in network neuroscience represent the brain as an undirected network. Here, we explore the role that directionality plays in shaping transition dynamics of functional brain states. Using a system of Hopfield neural elements with heterogeneous structural connectivity given by different species and parcellations (cat, Caenorhabditis elegans and two macaque networks), we investigate the effect of removing directionality of connections on brain capacity, which we quantify via its ability to store attractor states. In addition to determining large numbers of fixed-point attractor sets, we deploy the recently developed basin stability technique in order to assess the global stability of such brain states, which can be considered a proxy for network state robustness. Our study indicates that not only can directed network topology have a significant effect on the information capacity of connectome-based networks, but it can also impact significantly the domains of attraction of the aforementioned brain states. In particular, we find network modularity to be a key mechanism underlying the formation of neural activity patterns, and moreover, our results suggest that neglecting network directionality has the scope to eliminate states that correlate highly with the directed modular structure of the brain. A numerical analysis of the distribution of attractor states identified a small set of prototypical direction-dependent activity patterns that potentially constitute a `skeleton' of the non-stationary dynamics typically observed in the brain. This study thereby emphasizes the substantial role network directionality can have in shaping the brain's ability to both store and process information.

scholarly journals Math Performance and Academic Anxiety Forms, from Sociodemographic to Cognitive Aspects: a Meta-analysis on 906,311 Participants

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Caviola ◽  
Enrico Toffalini ◽  
David Giofrè ◽  
Jessica Mercader Ruiz ◽  
Dénes Szűcs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Math Anxiety ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Math Performance ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe relationship between anxiety and mathematics has often been investigated in the literature. Different forms of anxiety have been evaluated, with math anxiety (MA) and test anxiety (TA) consistently being associated with various aspects of mathematics. In this meta-analysis, we have evaluated the impact of these forms of anxiety, distinguishing between different types of mathematical tasks. In investigating this relationship, we have also included potential moderators, such as age, gender, working memory, type of task, and type of material. One hundred seventy-seven studies met the inclusion criteria, providing an overall sample of 906,311 participants. Results showed that both MA and TA had a significant impact on mathematics. Sociodemographic factors had modest moderating effects. Working memory (WM) also mediated the relationship between MA and TA with mathematics; however, this indirect effect was weak. Theoretical and educational implications, as well as future directions for research in this field, are discussed.

scholarly journals The Influence of Emotion Regulation on Arousal and Performance in Math Anxiety

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Pizzie ◽  
David J. M. Kraemer
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Math Anxiety ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Math Performance ◽  
Emotion Regulation Strategies ◽  
Math Task ◽  
Regulation Strategies ◽  
The Impact

Interventions targeting anxious emotion may be efficacious in reducing the negative impact of stress on mathematics performance. However, different regulation strategies may have different effects on arousal, which in turn may have different effects on task performance. In the present study, we recorded skin conductance levels in order to examine the effect of arousal on performance during different applied emotion regulation strategies. In particular, we were interested in how these emotion regulation strategies might affect the negative performance deficits attributed to anxious arousal in math anxious individuals. Participants were instructed to use cognitive reappraisal (distancing oneself from the stressful math task by thinking objectively about the problem in a low-stakes scenario), expressive suppression (maintaining a neutral emotional expression), or their own problem-solving technique (control). We recorded electrodermal activity (EDA), measuring skin conductance responses during each trial. Results indicate that HMA individuals show worse performance on the math task as well as increased sympathetic arousal (EDA) during the unregulated control condition for math. Notably, this arousal was reduced by reappraisal but exacerbated by suppression. Further, for both HMA and LMA groups, reappraisal reduced the impact of arousal on task accuracy, indicating that even elevated arousal levels no longer had a negative impact on math performance. Overall, these results show that reappraisal provides a promising technique for ameliorating the negative influence of math anxiety on math performance.

scholarly journals Brain-wide mapping of neural activity mediating collicular-dependent behaviors

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnau Sans-Dublanc ◽  
Anna Chrzanowska ◽  
Katja Reinhard ◽  
Dani Lemmon ◽  
Gabriel Montaldo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Electrophysiological Recordings ◽  
Defensive Behaviors ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Overlapping Sets ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractNeuronal cell-types are arranged in brain-wide circuits to guide behavior. In mice, the superior colliculus is comprised of a set of cell-types that each innervate distinct downstream targets. Here we reveal the brain-wide networks downstream of four collicular cell-types by combining functional ultrasound imaging (fUSi) with optogenetics to monitor neural activity at a resolution of ~100 μm. Each neuronal group triggered different behaviors, and activated distinct, partially overlapping sets of brain nuclei. This included regions not previously thought to mediate defensive behaviors, e.g. the posterior paralaminar nuclei of the thalamus (PPnT), that we show to play a role in suppressing habituation. Electrophysiological recordings support the fUSi findings and show that neurons in the downstream nuclei preferentially respond to innately threatening visual stimuli. This work provides insight into the functional organization of the networks governing defensive behaviors and demonstrates an experimental approach to explore the whole-brain neuronal activity downstream of targeted cell-types.

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