Физиологические корреляты математической тревожности в состоянии покоя и при ожидании решения математических задач

Математическая тревожность (МТ) – это чувство дискомфорта или страха при выполнении любых математических задач. Показано, что МТ влияет на успеваемость по математике. Люди с высокой математической тревожностью имеют умеренную реакцию мозговой активности даже не на само задание, а на ожидание решения математических задач. Известно, что электрическая активность кожи (ЭАК), частота сердечных сокращений (ЧСС) и вариабельность сердечного ритма являются чувствительными индикаторами стресса. Цель. Нашей целью было исследовать изменения физиологических показателей, таких как: электрическая активность кожи, частота сердечных сокращений и вариабельность сердечного ритма в состоянии покоя и при ожидании решения математических задач у участников с разным уровнем математической тревожности. Материалы и методы. В нашу выборку вошли 84 участника с высоким и низким уровнем математической тревожности. Экспериментальная процедура включала запись физиологических показателей в состоянии покоя, без специальных указаний и во время ожидания математических задач, когда участникам сообщалось, что далее они будут выполнять математические вычисления. Результаты. Исследование показало, что частота сердечных сокращений была значительно выше при ожидании решения математических задач у всех участников, независимо от уровня математической тревожности. Однако данный эффект был небольшой. Также были обнаружены различия в амплитуде электрической активности кожи у участников с разным уровнем математической тревожности. Заключение. Исследование показало, что частота сердечных сокращений чувствительна к такому эмоциональному состоянию, как ожидание решения математических задач, а изменение электрической активности кожи может выступать одним из индикаторов математической тревожности

Sympathetic Activation in Deadlines of Deskbound Research - A Study in the Wild

Paper and proposal deadlines are important milestones, conjuring up emotional memories to researchers. The question is if in the daily challenging world of scholarly research, deadlines truly incur higher sympathetic loading than the alternative. Here we report results from a longitudinal, in the wild study of n = 10 researchers working in the presence and absence of impeding deadlines. Unlike the retrospective, questionnaire-based studies of research deadlines in the past, our study is real-time and multimodal, including physiological, observational, and psychometric measurements. The results suggest that deadlines do not significantly add to the sympathetic loading of researchers. Irrespective of deadlines, the researchers' sympathetic activation is strongly associated with the amount of reading and writing they do, the extent of smartphone use, and the frequency of physical breaks they take. The latter likely indicates a natural mechanism for regulating sympathetic overactivity in deskbound research, which can inform the design of future break interfaces

Skills For Sustainable Development: Essays On How Creativity, Entrepreneurship And Emotions Foster Human Development

This dissertation deals with the understanding of policies and interventions that foster human development, with a focus on children and youth, and to build a link between human development and a learning society by using an interdisciplinary approach. This thesis studies how individuals develop their learning capabilities as well as their creative, entrepreneurial, and socio-emotional skills. The dissertation is structured in three main chapters in addition to this brief introduction. The first chapter, "Affective Neuroscience meets Labor Economics: Assessing Non-Cognitive skills on Late Stage Investment on at-Risk Youth,” studies the role of a program designed to foster entrepreneurial and self-confidence through learning by failure using insights from micro-econometric, behavioral economics and applied neuroscience. The second chapter, "How Much Should We Trust Self-reported Measures of Non-cognitive Skills?,” explores the relation between transient emotional states and self-ratings on self-reported measures of socio-emotional skills using a behavioral and a neuro-physiological experiment. This chapter also works as a “proof of concept” of the methods —e.g. emotion-detection theory and lab-in-the-field experiments implemented on chapter 1. The third chapter, “Can Art-based Programs Nurture Human Capital? Evidence From Public Schools in Chile,” studies the impacts of an art-based program in high school in Chile following a quasi-experimental design using propensity score matching techniques

Validity of the overclaiming technique as a method to account for response bias in self-assessment questions : analysis on the basis of the PISA 2012 data

The presented work is devoted to study the validity of overclaiming technique (OCT) as a measure of response (positivity) bias. Three main aims of the analyses performed were: a) assess methods' utility to enhance predictive validity of self-report by accounting for response biases, b) investigate proposed mechanisms of overclaiming, c) expand nomological network of the method by presenting a wide set of both individual-level and cluster-level (school) correlates. The obtained results pointed that OCT can be used in order to account for response biases in self-report data. Important differences regarding use and interpretation of the different OCT scoring systems were found and commented. Two systems, one based of signal detection theory (SDT), other on item response theory model (IRT), were proposed as viable scorings of OCT. Choice between them is not trivial as it influences results' interpretation and model specification. Three possible mechanisms of overclaiming were tested: a) motivated response bias (self-favouring bias, socially desirable responding), b) memory bias (overgeneralised knowledge or faulty memory control) and c) response styles and careless responding. The results pointed that all three mechanisms are probable and that overclaiming is most probably a heterogenous phenomenon of multiple causes. However, the analyses pointed out that one of the memory bias hypotheses, the overgeneralised knowledge account, does not hold and that there is much more evidence for the competitive metacognitive account. It is to said that overclaiming is at least partially attributable to insufficient monitoring of one's knowledge. Evidence for a relation between careless responding and overclaiming was also obtained, indicating that at least some of the overclaimed responses can be attributed due to inattentive responding. Obtained results on the relations between response styles and overclaiming were complicated; they warrant further studies as the results here probably greatly depend on the technical details of analysis, e.g. response style definition and coding adopted. The analysed cluster-level covariates demonstrated that only very limited portion of OCT variance can be ascribed to the school-level of analysis. Gender, socio-economic status and locus of control proved to be significantly related to overclaiming among the individual-level correlates assessed. Boys yielded higher overclaiming bias than girls and students of external locus of control were more biased in their self-reports in comparison to students of internal locus of control. The work comprises also analysis of the PISA's OCT latent structure. The results evidenced bifactor structure of the scale, with the general factor interpreted as math ability while the two specific factors were given a tentative explanation concentrated around item difficulty (one specific factor emerged for easy items, one for hard items). These findings point to a multi-dimensional character of OCT and a large role played by domain ability in OCT responding. Moreover, latent class analysis (LCA) performed identified an "overclaiming" group among the participants which was characterised by high overclaiming and unwarrantedly high self-report profile regarding math-related abilities and social life. However, this group counted only around 9% of the total sample. Implications of these findings are commented in the work, along with theoretical integration and ideas for future studies with the use of OCT

An exploration of primary teachers' understanding of maths anxiety and their perceptions of a training and coaching intervention designed to increase their understanding of maths anxiety and confidence in supporting children with maths anxiety

The causes, prevalence, and negative impact of mathematics anxiety (MA) on children and young people’s (CYP’s) mathematics learning, performance, attitude, and mental health have been well investigated (Ganley et al., 2021; Namkung et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2019). Furthermore, it has been suggested that MA develops due to students' prior negative experiences learning mathematics in the classroom and that teachers play significant roles in forming CYP's MA. Therefore, improving teachers' understanding of MA and increasing their confidence in supporting CYP with MA would be the first step to reducing CYP's MA. This study investigates primary teachers' understanding of MA, how they support children with MA, and the factors they believe impact their support for these children. Establishing this guides the design of an intervention combining training and coaching, aiming to deepen primary teachers’ understanding of MA and increase their confidence in supporting children with MA. The responses to the intervention are evaluated to establish whether this is a practical way for EPs to support teachers in reducing CYP’s MA. In Phase 1, semi-structured interviews with eleven primary school teachers were analysed via reflexive thematic analysis. This information was used to design the training and coaching content for Phase 2. In Phase 2, training was delivered to groups of primary teachers in-person and online, followed by four sessions of coaching. To evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention, feedback was sought from the participants via questionnaires, coaching notes, and recordings of coaching review sessions. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data, and reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. Phase 1 findings were that awareness and understanding of MA were low and incomplete in these primary teachers. Phase 2 findings indicate that the intervention combining training and coaching deepened their understanding of MA, increased their confidence in supporting children with MA, and enabled them to apply strategies in their practice. The findings suggest that this intervention is a feasible and valuable tool for EPs to support primary teachers in supporting children with MA

The Relationships Between Flow, Mathematics Self-Efficacy, and Mathematics Anxiety Among International Undergraduate Students in the United States

Problem A worldwide problem, math anxiety is defined as an anxious state with an unpleasant feeling of tension characterized by fear of failing to achieve mathematics targets. Psychologically, math anxiety involves anxiety, tension, discomfort, nervousness, fear, shock, and insecurity. Math anxiety has been perceived as a key influencer of reduced math achievement, and avoidance of math-related careers. On the other hand, abilities, flow, interests, and psychological conditions contribute to student mathematics success. Belief in one\u27s ability to perform a specific task boosts self-efficacy, which has been studied widely as a predictor of student academic performance. When students are interested in, concentrated on, and passionate about doing an activity, they are experiencing flow. How math anxiety is affected by both mathematics self-efficacy and flow experience has not been well researched, especially among international undergraduate students in the United States. Method To bridge this gap, this study investigated the influence of flow experience on math anxiety, the influence of mathematics self-efficacy on mathematics anxiety, and the influence of flow experience on mathematics anxiety through math self-efficacy as a mediator. To conduct this quantitative study, a questionnaire was designed to collect participant demographic data, and data about the research variables: (a) math anxiety, (b) math self-efficacy, and (c) flow experience. The Mathematics Self-Efficacy and Anxiety Questionnaire (MSEAQ) developed by May (2009) was used to measure student mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics anxiety. The Core Flow Scale developed by Martin and Jackson (2008) measured student flow experience. Based on a convenience sampling method, 614 international undergraduate students were surveyed and 503 (136 males, 367 females) produced valid responses which were analyzed statistically using SPSS and AMOS. Descriptive statistics were computed to understand the data distribution and to measure the levels of flow experience, math self-efficacy, and student mathematics anxiety. Math self-efficacy, flow experience, and math anxiety scales demonstrated high reliability (Cronbach alpha values 0.94, 0.94, 0.93 respectively). Structural equation modelling technique (SEM) was used to test the proposed research model. Results The findings revealed that the level of mathematics anxiety was moderate (M = 3.18, SD = 0.87). All the anxiety dimensions revealed a similar pattern. Most participants felt stressed (M = 3.22, SD = 0.98), confused (M = 3.21, SD = 0.90), less motivated (M = 3.06, SD = 1.02), and less confident (M = 3.00, SD = 0.95) while solving mathematics problems. Second, most participants felt flow experience while solving mathematics problems (M = 3.25, SD =0.95). All dimensions of flow experience recorded a moderate level, except for freedom from being time-bound which was the lowest (M = 2.72, SD = 1.23). Females (M = 3.16, SD = 0.89) felt more mathematics anxiety than males (M = 2.99, SD = 0.78) while solving mathematics problems; this difference was statistically significant (t (501) = -1.95, p = 0.05) with a large effect size (d = 0.86). Additionally, the application of an independent sample t-test on flow experience data showed that males (M = 3.39, SD = 0.87) experienced more flow experience than females (M = 3.20, SD = 0.97) while solving mathematical problems; this difference was statistically significant (t (501) = 2.04, p = 0.04), with a large effect size (d = 0.95). Finally, the results of the relationships tested showed that (a) flow experience had a strong, positive, and significant impact on math self-efficacy (β = 0.709, p \u3c 0.001), (b) math self-efficacy had a moderate to strong, negative, and significant impact on mathematics anxiety (β = -0.466, p \u3c 0.001), (c) flow experience was negatively related to math anxiety (r = -0.39) (d) flow experience had a weak, negative, and insignificant direct impact on mathematics anxiety (β = -0.058, p \u3e 0.1), and (e) flow experience had a moderate but significant negative indirect effect on mathematics anxiety through self-efficacy (β = -0.330, p \u3c 0.05). Conclusions Recommendations for teachers include trying to maintain a challenge-skill balance and establishing clear goals to escalate flow experience, and provision of immediate constructive feedback to boost self-efficacy. To reduce math anxiety, instructors should apply positive psychology strategies, including special strategies for students with exceptionalities. The current study could be extended by employing a mixed-design research strategy, collecting primary data both quantitively and qualitatively to provide more in-depth information about these variables

Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilities are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by failure to acquire, retrieve, and use information competently. These disorders have a multifactorial aetiology and are most common and severe in children, especially when comorbid with other chronic health conditions. This book provides current and comprehensive information about learning disorders, including information on neurobiology, assessment, clinical features, and treatment. Chapters cover such topics as historical research and hypotheses of learning disorders, neuropsychological assessment and counselling, characteristics of specific disorders such as autism and ADHD, evidence-based treatment strategies and assistive technologies, and much more

The combined benefits of dispositional mindfulness and trait self-compassion as potential buffers of the effects of perceived stress on sleep quality in college-aged young adults.

Using a nonclinical sample of 108 undergraduates between the ages of 18 to 25 years old, this cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between dispositional mindfulness (as measured by the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire; Baer et al., 2006) and sleep quality (as measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; Buysse et al., 1989). Second, it evaluated the association between trait self-compassion (as measured by the Self-Compassion Scale; Neff, 2003b) and sleep quality. Third, it aimed to test for an interaction effect between dispositional mindfulness and trait self-compassion as buffers against the adverse effects of perceived stress on sleep quality. Results showed that there was a significant moderate and negative association between dispositional mindfulness and sleep quality (r = -.48, p \u3c .01). Similarly, results showed that there was a significant moderate and negative association between trait self-compassion and sleep quality (r = -.38, p \u3c .01). Taken together, these findings indicate that in this sample of college-aged young adults, higher levels of dispositional mindfulness and trait self-compassion respectively were associated with better sleep quality. This is consistent with previous research examining the associations between dispositional mindfulness and sleep quality (Howell et al., 2008; Lau et al., 2008; Murphy et al., 2012) as well as between trait self-compassion and sleep quality (Brown et al., 2021; Butz & Stalhberg, 2018; Hu et al., 2018). Therefore, the present study\u27s findings add to the extant body of literature demonstrating associations between higher levels of dispositional mindfulness and trait self-compassion respectively with better sleep quality. Contrary to the study\u27s Hypotheses 3a and 3b, the hypothesized three-way interaction among perceived stress, dispositional mindfulness, and trait self-compassion was not supported, given that moderated moderation analyses revealed no significant interaction among these three variables (b = -.001, t(100) = -.53, p = .60, 95% Confidence Interval: [-.006, .004], ΔR2 = .002, ΔF = .28). This indicates that in the current sample, the strength of the association between perceived stress and poor sleep quality did not vary based on participants\u27 levels of dispositional mindfulness and trait self-compassion

Overcoming foreign language anxiety in an emotionally intelligent tutoring system

Learning a foreign language entails cognitive and emotional obstacles. It involves complicated mental processes that affect learning and emotions. Positive emotions such as motivation, encouragement, and satisfaction increase learning achievement, while negative emotions like anxiety, frustration, and confusion may reduce performance. Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) is a specific type of anxiety accompanying learning a foreign language. It is considered a main impediment that hinders learning, reduces achievements, and diminishes interest in learning. Detecting FLA is the first step toward reducing and eventually overcoming it. Previously, researchers have been detecting FLA using physical measurements and self-reports. Using physical measures is direct and less regulated by the learner, but it is uncomfortable and requires the learner to be in the lab. Employing self-reports is scalable because it is easy to administer in the lab and online. However, it interrupts the learning flow, and people sometimes respond inaccurately. Using sensor-free human behavioral metrics is a scalable and practical measurement because it is feasible online or in class with minimum adjustments. To overcome FLA, researchers have studied the use of robots, games, or intelligent tutoring systems (ITS). Within these technologies, they applied soothing music, difficulty reduction, or storytelling. These methods lessened FLA but had limitations such as distracting the learner, not improving performance, and producing cognitive overload. Using an animated agent that provides motivational supportive feedback could reduce FLA and increase learning. It is necessary to measure FLA effectively with minimal interruption and then successfully reduce it. In the context of an e-learning system, I investigated ways to detect FLA using sensor-free human behavioral metrics. This scalable and practical method allows us to recognize FLA without being obtrusive. To reduce FLA, I studied applying emotionally adaptive feedback that offers motivational supportive feedback by an animated agent