The Impact of Mathematics Anxiety on Primary School Children’s Working Memory
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Witt, Marcus
Abstract / Description
While there is little doubt that there is a connection between mathematics anxiety and poor mathematical performance, the direction and nature of this connection is less clear. Some researchers (e.g., Ma & Xu, 2004) have contended that poor mathematical performance directly causes mathematics anxiety. Others see a more complex relationship in which mathematics anxiety may, in part at least, cause poor mathematical performance. One possible explanation for the latter view is that mathematics anxiety leads directly to a disruption of cognitive processes such as working memory, which leads directly to poorer mathematical performance (Hopko, Ashcraft, Gute, Ruggiero, & Lewis, 1998). The working memory component most consistently associated with mathematics anxiety is the central executive (Ashcraft & Krause, 2007), although there is evidence (Miller & Bichsel, 2004) that visual-spatial working memory is impaired by mathematics anxiety. This study sought to explore the suggestion (Ashcraft & Kirk, 2001) that the mere presence of digits might trigger an anxious reaction among children reporting high levels of mathematics anxiety, leading to a decrement in working memory performance. Children of 9 and 10 years of age reported levels of mathematics anxiety and undertook two working memory tasks, one measuring central executive functioning and the other measuring visual-spatial working memory. Each working memory task was completed twice, once using letters as the to-be-remembered stimuli and again using digits. The differences in performance between the two versions of the tasks were compared with the reported levels of mathematics anxiety. The findings suggest that the presence of digits as the stimuli caused a decrement in working memory performance commensurate with the reported levels of mathematical anxiety.
Keyword(s)
working memory mathematics anxiety childrenPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2012-05-31
Journal title
Europe's Journal of Psychology
Volume
8
Issue
2
Page numbers
263–274
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Witt, M. (2012). The Impact of Mathematics Anxiety on Primary School Children’s Working Memory. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 8(2), 263–274. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v8i2.458
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Witt, Marcus
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-21T10:00:34Z
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Made available on2018-11-21T10:00:34Z
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Date of first publication2012-05-31
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Abstract / DescriptionWhile there is little doubt that there is a connection between mathematics anxiety and poor mathematical performance, the direction and nature of this connection is less clear. Some researchers (e.g., Ma & Xu, 2004) have contended that poor mathematical performance directly causes mathematics anxiety. Others see a more complex relationship in which mathematics anxiety may, in part at least, cause poor mathematical performance. One possible explanation for the latter view is that mathematics anxiety leads directly to a disruption of cognitive processes such as working memory, which leads directly to poorer mathematical performance (Hopko, Ashcraft, Gute, Ruggiero, & Lewis, 1998). The working memory component most consistently associated with mathematics anxiety is the central executive (Ashcraft & Krause, 2007), although there is evidence (Miller & Bichsel, 2004) that visual-spatial working memory is impaired by mathematics anxiety. This study sought to explore the suggestion (Ashcraft & Kirk, 2001) that the mere presence of digits might trigger an anxious reaction among children reporting high levels of mathematics anxiety, leading to a decrement in working memory performance. Children of 9 and 10 years of age reported levels of mathematics anxiety and undertook two working memory tasks, one measuring central executive functioning and the other measuring visual-spatial working memory. Each working memory task was completed twice, once using letters as the to-be-remembered stimuli and again using digits. The differences in performance between the two versions of the tasks were compared with the reported levels of mathematics anxiety. The findings suggest that the presence of digits as the stimuli caused a decrement in working memory performance commensurate with the reported levels of mathematical anxiety.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationWitt, M. (2012). The Impact of Mathematics Anxiety on Primary School Children’s Working Memory. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 8(2), 263–274. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v8i2.458
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ISSN1841-0413
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1133
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1325
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v8i2.458
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Keyword(s)working memoryen_US
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Keyword(s)mathematics anxietyen_US
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Keyword(s)childrenen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleThe Impact of Mathematics Anxiety on Primary School Children’s Working Memoryen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue2
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Journal titleEurope's Journal of Psychology
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Page numbers263–274
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Volume8
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record