Is math anxiety caused by a deficit in basic numerical skills? A study using numerical and non-numerical tasks

Recent research found differences between high and low anxiety adults in basic numerical tasks like Arabic number comparison and dot enumeration (Maloney et al., 2010; 2011). This led some researchers to consider that math anxiety could be motivated by a subtle deficit in processing quantities. However, most of these studies did not controlled for some relevant variables, hence the difficulties found in basic tasks could be motivated by differences in working memory or in “general” anxiety between the high and low math anxiety groups. In the present research working memory skills and trait and mood anxiety were assessed in 15 low anxiety and 15 high anxiety 6th grade students, then both groups took part in three experiments. In the first, dot comparison task, bigger effects of distance and magnitude were found in the high anxiety group. In Experiment 2, Arabic number comparison, however, the only difference between both groups was related to speed: low anxiety participants were faster. Similar differences were found in Experiment 3, in which participants were required to perform an attentional (Posner) task without numerical content. It is concluded that the relationship between performance and math anxiety is more complex than previously thought.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Phonemic errors with words but semantic errors with numbers: is number production special?

Paradoxically, brain-damaged people with impairments in the phonological output buffer produce phonemic paraphasias with content words (e.g., bitar-butter) but semantic paraphasias with number words (e.g., twenty five-thirty eight). This is known as the Stimulus Type Effect on Phonological and Semantic errors (STEPS). Explanations for this phenomenon consider that preassembled phonological representations exist for numbers but not for content words in the phonological output buffer. Here we explore two alternative hypotheses based on the existence of two methodological confounds: numbers are always presented in homogeneous blocks and words in heterogeneous blocks; number words are usually word sequences that are compared to single content-words. Two conduction aphasics took part in the study. Experiment 1 did not confirm the role of lists in causing the STEPS. Experiment 2 found more semantic paraphasias (compared to phonemic paraphasias) both in the repetition of multidigits (e.g., 673) and, more importantly, in the repetition of color word sequences (e.g., red-blue-green). The STEPS arises as consequence of differences in resource demands. Number words have not a special status in the phonological output buffer.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Effects of self-efficacy, catastrophizing, fear of movement and joint position sense in the maintenance of wrist unspecific pain in athletes. An observational study.

Wrist pain is a highly prevalent condition in racket sport population. Although different wrist injuries have been described in the literature as more prevalent in racket sport, unspecific chronic wrist pain is common problem on amateur population. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study were conducted between October 2021 to June 2022. Participants over 18 th suffered for wrist pain were recruited from different sports centers where racket sports were practiced. Objective: The aims of this research was to study the relationships and the predictive power of Self-Efficacy, Catastrophizing, Fear of Movement and proprioception on the persistence of unspecific wrist pain in athlete population. Results: One hundred and four athletes participated in the study (54 men and 50 women), most of them tennis and paddle players. Psychological variables were correlated (P 0.01) with wrist pain persistence, suggestive of complex interactions between cognitive-affective processes and wrist unspecific pain in athletes. Conclusion: The results suggest that targeting high levels of Self-Efficacy, Catastrophizing and Fear of Movement could be a prognostic factor of wrist unspecific maintained pain in athlete population.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Conduite d'approche in conduction aphasia: Which psycholinguistic and experimental variables drive it – A case study.

Conduite d’approche (CdA) is a classic repetitive behavior reported frequently in persons with conduction aphasia, however, relatively little is known about it, both at the brain and cognitive level (e.g., whether it is a self-correcting mechanism based on comprehension or rather on production, Nickels and Howard, 1995; Ueno and Lambon-Ralph, 2013). In this work we address which psycholinguistic and experimental variables boost the occurrence of CdAs and are involved in reaching a successful CdA. Here we study ANC, a 79-year-old male with high sociocultural level who suffers from a reproduction conduction aphasia that caused frequent CdAs.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Do we compute the exact number of digits in the string when comparing different-length numbers?

Recent studies have shown that, when comparing multidigit numbers that differ in length (e.g., 2384-107), a decision is made considering length but also other attributes like the value of the initial digits (i.e., left-most digit/length congruity effect: faster responses to 2384-107 than to 2675-398). A non-solved issue is whether participants choose the number with more digits by exactly computing the number of digits in the string (e.g., 3 vs. 4) or whether they simply choose the perceptually larger item. In our first study participants were presented with pairs of different length numbers (3 vs. 4-digits) and were requested to decide which multidigit starts with a larger digit. Results showed more difficulties when the smaller digit was in the 4-digit length number, suggesting that length was automatically processed even although it was irrelevant for the task. In a second study, we presented participants with pairs of 3- and 4-digit-length numbers but obscured the processing of perceptual length by including a letter at the end of the 3-digit-length numbers (e.g., 8567-342M). Additionally, we manipulated the left-most-digit/length congruity effect and presented one string in each pair in a larger font than the other. Then we requested participants to do a physical size decision task. Together with an influence of the leftmost digit in the string, no effects of digit-length were observed, thus suggesting that the exact number of digits in the string is not processed automatically. It seems participants rely on perceptual information when comparing multidigit numbers that differ in length.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Individual differences in arithmetic fluency

Este estudio contrasta la hipótesis de que las dificultades que tienen algunos sujetos en el dominio de las tablas de multiplicar se deban a su incapacidad para afrontar la interferencia. Los resultados no muestran diferencias en medidas de interferencia en un tarea de recuerdo serial entre sujetos con alta y baja habilidad en la resolución de multiplicaciones. Sin embargo, se encuentran diferencias asociadas a su dominio de las representaciones numéricas.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. Proyecto PSI-2012-38423

Variables involved in math anxiety: a study in a sixth grade sample

En el presente artículo se aborda el estudio de la ansiedad frente a las matemáticas en un grupo de 55 alumnos de sexto de primaria. Se analiza la correlación de esta variable con el rendimiento en matemáticas, con la ansiedad estado y la ansiedad rasgo, con el género y con la representación que los niños se hacen sobre sus habilidades matemáticas. Con el objetivo de determinar qué factores predicen la ansiedad frente a las matemáticas, se realizó también un análisis de regresión. Los resultados sugieren que la ansiedad estado y la opinión que los niños tienen sobre su rendimiento en matemáticas son los mejores predictores de la ansiedad a las matemáticas.In the present article we study math anxiety in a group of 55 sixth grade students. We explore the correlations between this variable and the achievement in maths, state anxiety, trait anxiety, gender and their confidence about their maths skills. Additionally, with the aim of identifying those factors that predict math anxiety, a regression analysis was carried out. Results suggest that trait anxiety, together with the student’s opinion about their math skills, is the best predictor of math anxiety

Struggling with single-digit multiplications: testing several hypotheses

Between 5-10% of children suffer big difficulties in learning single-digit multiplications (Geary, 2011). In accordance with previous studies, difficulties in learning multiplications would be related with interference-control problems. The more similar the multiplications are (e.g., 4x6=24; 4x7=28), the greater is the interference that occurs when remembering them. People who have interference-control problems, would not be able to adequately retrieve the solutions (e.g., De Visscher et al., 2014). Furthermore, evidences suggest that inhibition would be a key cognitive mechanism underlying numerical development (Nath & Szücs, 2016). Another point of view defends that difficulties with basic numerical representations, or their access from symbolic formats (e.g., Arabic, verbal), would be the cause of the multiplication learning difficulties. The footprint in the memory of multiplication problems would be weakened because of an imprecise representation of the numbers and the result which compose them (e.g., Buttwerworth, 2005). This study explored whether the differences in multiplication fluency in adults are due to numerical or non-numerical abilities. High Fluency (N=17; Age=18-32) & Low Fluency (N=17; Age=18-37) groups were created according to their performance in a multiplication fluency test (High= Fluency > P85, Low=Fluency < P15). We used two tasks to assess symbolic and non-symbolic numerical representations, and two memory tasks to assess proactive and retroactive interference. We assessed inhibitory control using the Attentional Network Task, and the interaction between numerical representations and inhibition using a numerical Stroop task. Results showed differences in numerical representation tasks between groups but not in interference-control measures. A reduced numerical Stroop effect in the Low Fluency group was also found. Taking together, we conclude that deficits in the numerical domain are in the basis of single-digit multiplication problems.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Length is not all that matters: testing the role of number identity and the ratio of fillers in comparisons of multi-digits with different digit length

Research in multi-digit number comparison usually considers stimuli with the same number of digits (e.g., 3452 vs. 7831). Surprisingly, there is almost no research on the comparison of numbers that differ in length (e.g., 995 vs. 1000), which demands a focus on the number of digits in each multi-digit, despite the fact that the role of number length has been explicitly acknowledged in componential models of multi-digit processing. Our study explores whether the comparison of pairs of natural numbers that differ in length is affected by the identity of the leftmost digit of each multi-digit, and asks what is the effect of having variable proportions of trials with pairs of numbers of the same-length in the task. Across three studies participants compared numbers in blocks with different proportions of same-length multi-digit pairs (Experiment 1 and 2: 25% vs. 50% vs. 75%; Experiment 3: 0% vs. 50%). Stimuli in the different-length condition were length-digit congruent (the number with more digits starting with a larger digit: 2384 vs. 107) or length-digit incongruent (the number with more digits starting with a smaller number: 2675 vs. 398). Response times were shorter in length-digit congruent pairs than in the incongruent pairs. Unexpectedly, this effect was only slightly modulated by the proportion of same-/different-length multi-digit pairs in the experimental set. Despite its perceptual saliency, length is not the only information considered when comparing different-length numbers. The leftmost-digit is also taken into account, with variable relevance here, depending on the characteristics of the stimuli set.IGC was funded by a Ph.D. scholarship from the Universidad de Málaga. Open Access funding provided thanks to the Universidad de Málaga-CBUA (CRUE-CSIC) agreement with Springer Nature. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBU