Measuring Math Anxiety Among Predominantly Underrepresented Minority Undergraduates Using the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale

Many students experience math anxiety, which can negatively affect their academic achievement and even their career choices. One of the most commonly used methods to assess math anxiety is the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS). Despite the ubiquity of this measure, there is a lack of studies assessing its validity. Moreover, almost all studies have administered the AMAS to a predominantly (>75%) White sample. The present study assessed the validity of the AMAS in a largely underrepresented minority-student (Hispanics and Blacks) sample. The construct validity of the scale was established by showing that students’ AMAS was predictive of both their actual (objective) and predicted (subjective) performance on an arithmetic task. The factor structure of the measure was validated by confirming that the two-factor model was a better fit than the one-factor model. Gender invariance was supported using multi-group confirmatory factor analyses. Overall, the results of the present study provide further evidence on the validity of the AMAS and its use among underrepresented minority college students.

Dual-Task Costs in Gait Speed Differs Across Age Groups

With age, there are simultaneous reductions in gait speed (GS). This decrease in GS has been associated with an increased fall risk and negatively impacts independence. Further, GS naturally declines with the addition of a secondary stimulus (i.e., cognitive requirements). Combined, these decrements can be additive in nature potentially leading to robust declines with advancing age. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine age-related effects of dual-task cost (DTC) while walking. Adults (N = 145), over the age of 45 years, completed two walking trials for each GS condition: habitual (HAB) and fast (FST), with and without a DT (i.e., counting backwards by serials of three). Subjects were classified into four age groups: youngest-old (YG ≤ 64 years, n = 24), young-old (YO, 65-74 years, n = 46), middle-old (MO = 75-84 years, n = 54), and oldest-old (OO ≥ 85 years, n = 21). DTC was calculated and ANOVAs were used to assess differences between the groups. There was no difference in HAB DTC between the age groups (p=.61). However, there was a significant difference in FST DTC (p=.04) between the YO (M±SD: -14 ± -11%) and OO (M±SD: -24 ± -12%). These data indicate there was an age-related affect for fast dual-task cost, but not for habitual dual-task cost while walking. An increase in dual-task cost among the oldest-old may be associated with an inability to properly maintain a faster cadence while performing an arithmetic task which may be related to task prioritization.

Anxiety-Related Difficulties With Complex Arithmetic

Human behavior depends on the interplay between cognition and emotion. Negative emotions like anxiety affect performance, particularly in complex tasks, by limiting cognitive resources – known as the anxiety–complexity effect. This study set out to replicate the anxiety–complexity effect in a web-based experiment. We investigated individual differences in math anxiety – a negative emotional response specific to math – and arithmetic performance ( N = 382). The mental arithmetic task consisted of a two-digit addition and subtraction, with/without carrying or borrowing, respectively. As expected and preregistered, higher math anxiety was related to poorer arithmetic performance, especially in complex tasks – indicating the anxiety–complexity effect. Consequently, the negative math anxiety-performance link is especially pronounced for complex arithmetic, which requires calculations across place-values and thus working memory resources. This successful replication of the anxiety–complexity effect suggests that math-anxious individuals have particular difficulties in complex arithmetic.

Nonsymbolic and Symbolic Numerical Magnitude Processing in the Brazilian Children with Mathematics Difficulties

ABSTRACT It is still debated if the main deficit in mathematical difficulties (MD) is nonsymbolic or symbolic numerical magnitude processing. Objectives: In the present study, our main goal was to investigate nonsymbolic and symbolic numerical magnitude processing in MD and the relationship between these abilities and arithmetic. Methods: The Brazilian school-age children with MD completed a nonsymbolic and a symbolic numerical magnitude comparison task and an arithmetic task. We compared their performance with a group of children with typical achievement (TA) and investigated the association between numerical magnitude processing and arithmetic with a series of regression analyses. Results: Results indicated that children with MD had low performance in the nonsymbolic numerical magnitude comparison task. Performance in both nonsymbolic and symbolic numerical magnitude comparison tasks predicted arithmetic abilities in children with TA, but not in children with MD. Conclusions: These results indicate that children with MD have difficulties in nonsymbolic numerical magnitude processing, and do not engage basic numerical magnitude representations to solve arithmetic.

The causal impact of objective numeracy on judgments: Improving numeracy via symbolic and non-symbolic approximate arithmetic training yields more consistent risk judgments

Park and Brannon (2013, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613482944) found that practicing non-symbolic approximate arithmetic increased performance on an objective numeracy task, specifically symbolic arithmetic. Manipulating objective numeracy would be useful for many researchers, particularly those who wish to investigate causal effects of objective numeracy on performance. Objective numeracy has been linked to performance in multiple areas, such as judgment-and-decision-making (JDM) competence, but most existing studies are correlational. Here, we expanded upon Park and Brannon’s method to experimentally manipulate objective numeracy and we investigated whether numeracy’s link with JDM performance was causal. Experimental participants drawn from a diverse internet sample trained on approximate-arithmetic tasks whereas active control participants trained on a spatial working-memory task. Numeracy training followed a 2 × 2 design: Experimental participants quickly estimated the sum of OR difference between presented numeric stimuli, using symbolic numbers (i.e., Arabic numbers) OR non-symbolic numeric stimuli (i.e., dot arrays). We partially replicated Park and Brannon’s findings: The numeracy training improved objective-numeracy performance more than control training, but this improvement was evidenced by performance on the Objective Numeracy Scale, not the symbolic arithmetic task. Subsequently, we found that experimental participants also perceived risks more consistently than active control participants, and this risk-consistency benefit was mediated by objective numeracy. These results provide the first known experimental evidence of a causal link between objective numeracy and the consistency of risk judgments.

Brain Activity Measurement during a Mental Arithmetic Task in fNIRS Signal Using Continuous Wavelet Transform

Purpose: Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive imaging technology with widespread use in cognitive sciences and clinical studies. It indirectly measures neural activation by measuring alterations of oxyhemoglobin (HbO2) and deoxyhemoglobin (Hb) in tissues. This study used mental arithmetic task for analyzing the activation of the frontal cortex. Materials and methods: The fNIRS instrument was used for measuring the alterations of HbO2 and Hb in healthy subjects during the task. Then the recorded signals were filtered in the frequency range of 3 to 80 mHz. The Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) of each of the HbO2 and Hb signals in each channel was calculated in the intended frequency range, followed by the calculation of the energy of obtained coefficients. Finally, for the performed tasks, the average energy of each channel in each region was obtained. Then the energies of spatially symmetric channel pairs in the two hemispheres were compared using the t-test. Results: Results demonstrated that the average energy of HbO2 signal for corresponding channels in the temporal, Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC), and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) regions had significant differences (P<0.05). Also, a significant difference was observed in the temporal, medial prefrontal, and Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex (VLPFC) regions for Hb signal. Conclusion: The obtained results indicate activation in both HbO2 and Hb signals in the DLPFC, temporal, and MPFC regions, considering the performance of memory and the frontal cortex under mental arithmetic tasks. Therefore, it can be concluded that this technique is effective and appropriate for analyzing alterations of brain oxygen levels during cognitive activity.

Cognitive performance in pain is predicted by effort, not goal desire

Background Pain’s disruptive effects on cognition are well documented. The seminal goal-pursuit account of pain suggests that cognitive disruption is less likely if participants are motivated to attended to a focal goal and not a pain goal. Objectives Existing theory is unclear about the conceptualisation and operationalisation of ‘focal goal’. This study aims to clarify how goals should be conceptualised and further seeks to test the theory of the goal-pursuit account. Methods In a pre-registered laboratory experiment, 56 participants completed an arithmetic task in high-reward/low-reward and pain/control conditions. Pain was induced via cold-water immersion. Results High levels of reported effort exertion predicted cognitive-task performance, whereas desire for rewards did not. Post-hoc analyses further suggest that additional effort in the pain condition compensated for pain’s disruptive effects, but when this extra effort was not exerted, performance deficits were observed in pain, compared to control, conditions. Conclusion Results suggest that ‘motivation’, or commitment to a focal goal, is best understood as effort exertion and not as a positive desire to achieve a goal. These results solidify existing theory and aid researchers in operationalising these constructs.

Anti-Heartbeat-Evoked Potentials Performance in Event-Related Potentials-Based Mental Workload Assessment

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of heartbeat-evoked potentials (HEPs) on the performance of an event-related potential (ERP)-based classification of mental workload (MWL). We produced low- and high-MWLs using a mental arithmetic task and measured the ERP response of 14 participants. ERP trials were divided into three conditions based on the effect of HEPs on ERPs: ERPHEP, containing the heartbeat in a period of 280–700ms in ERP epochs after the target; ERPA-HEP, not including the heartbeat within the same period; and ERPT, all trials including ERPA-HEP and ERPHEP. We then compared MWL classification performance using the amplitude and latency of the P600 ERP among the three conditions. The ERPA-HEP condition achieved an accuracy of 100% using a radial basis function-support vector machine (with 10-fold cross-validation), showing an increase of 14.3 and 28.6% in accuracy compared to ERPT (85.7%) and ERPHEP (71.4%), respectively. The results suggest that evoked potentials caused by heartbeat overlapped or interfered with the ERPs and weakened the ERP response to stimuli. This study reveals the effect of the evoked potentials induced by heartbeats on the performance of the MWL classification based on ERPs.