Does being unaware predict being unskilled? Analyzing the predictive ability of the Metacognition Awareness Inventory

Students’ perceptions of how well they know information ultimately impact the study choices they make. The more accurate these perceptions are, the more prepared students are to be academically successful. Thus, the current study aimed to find an efficient way to quickly identify students who struggle with this self-assessment, and ultimately classroom performance, using a tool designed to assess metacognitive ability. Participants first completed a metacognition scale designed to assess learning strategies – the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI). Next, the participants were administered a 29-minute lecture followed by a brief exam at the end of the lecture. There were three types of metacognitive judgements used in this study: a) A global predictive judgment, b) item-by-item confidence judgments, and c) a global postdictive judgment. The exam results were compared to participants’ self-report on the MAI and participants’ judgements. It was hypothesized that participants with higher MAI scores would do consistently better on the post-lecture exam than participants with lower MAI scores and be more accurate with their metacognitive judgments. Additionally, it was hypothesized that participants in the lowest metacognitive quadrant on the MAI would be overconfident in their predictions of exam performance. Neither hypothesis was supported: The MAI does not appear to be a reliable measure for predicting accuracy of metacognitive judgments or immediate academic performance

Identification of Proteins Targeted by the Thioredoxin Superfamily in Plasmodium falciparum

The malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum possesses a functional thioredoxin and glutathione system comprising the dithiol-containing redox proteins thioredoxin (Trx) and glutaredoxin (Grx), as well as plasmoredoxin (Plrx), which is exclusively found in Plasmodium species. All three proteins belong to the thioredoxin superfamily and share a conserved Cys-X-X-Cys motif at the active site. Only a few of their target proteins, which are likely to be involved in redox reactions, are currently known. The aim of the present study was to extend our knowledge of the Trx-, Grx-, and Plrx-interactome in Plasmodium. Based on the reaction mechanism, we generated active site mutants of Trx and Grx lacking the resolving cysteine residue. These mutants were bound to affinity columns to trap target proteins from P. falciparum cell extracts after formation of intermolecular disulfide bonds. Covalently linked proteins were eluted with dithiothreitol and analyzed by mass spectrometry. For Trx and Grx, we were able to isolate 17 putatively redox-regulated proteins each. Furthermore, the approach was successfully established for Plrx, leading to the identification of 21 potential target proteins. In addition to confirming known interaction partners, we captured potential target proteins involved in various processes including protein biosynthesis, energy metabolism, and signal transduction. The identification of three enzymes involved in S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) metabolism furthermore suggests that redox control is required to balance the metabolic fluxes of SAM between methyl-group transfer reactions and polyamine synthesis. To substantiate our data, the binding of the redoxins to S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase and ornithine aminotransferase (OAT) were verified using BIAcore surface plasmon resonance. In enzymatic assays, Trx was furthermore shown to enhance the activity of OAT. Our approach led to the discovery of several putatively redox-regulated proteins, thereby contributing to our understanding of the redox interactome in malarial parasites

Does Expressive Writing Blunt the Effects of Math Anxiety on Math Performance? A Conceptual Replication and Extension of Park et al. (2014)

Math anxiety (MA) is negatively related to math performance. One proposed intervention with potential to disrupt the MA-math performance link is expressive writing. The current study aimed to conceptually replicate Park and colleagues (2014). In that study, the authors concluded that expressive writing effectively boosted math anxious students’ performance. In our current sample of 168 college students, participants randomly assigned to the expressive writing condition were no more accurate at posttest than were other participants assigned to a math self-concept intervention, active control, or passive control. Additionally, participants in the math self-concept and active control conditions reported lower state MA immediately following the intervention; participants in the expressive writing and passive control conditions reported no differences between pretest and posttest state MA. The current study provides boundary conditions for the effectiveness of expressive writing interventions in ameliorating MA during difficult math tasks and illuminates potential mechanisms underlying MA

Metacognitive Cues, Working Memory, and Math Anxiety: The Regulated Attention in Mathematical Problem Solving (RAMPS) Framework

Mathematical problem solving is a process involving metacognitive (e.g., judging progress), cognitive (e.g., working memory), and affective (e.g., math anxiety) factors. Recent research encourages researchers who study math cognition to consider the role that the interaction between metacognition and math anxiety plays in mathematical problem solving. Problem solvers can make many metacognitive judgments during a math problem, ranging from global judgments such as, “Do I care to solve this problem?” to minor cue-based judgments such as, “Is my current strategy successful in making progress toward the correct solution?” Metacognitive monitoring can hinder accurate mathematical problem solving when the monitoring is task-irrelevant; however, task-relevant metacognitive experiences can lead to helpful control decisions in mathematical problem solving such as checking work, considering plausibility of an answer, and considering alternate strategies. Worry and negative thoughts (i.e., math anxiety) can both interfere with the accuracy of metacognitive experiences as cues in mathematical problem solving and lead to avoidance of metacognitive control decisions that could otherwise improve performance. The current paper briefly reviews and incorporates prior literature with current qualitative reports (n = 673) to establish a novel framework of regulated attention in mathematical problem solving (RAMPS)

Perceptions of ease and difficulty, but not growth mindset, relate to specific math attitudes

Background People report negative attitudes towards fractions and percentages relative to whole numbers (WNs, Sidney, Thompson, Fitzsimmons, &amp; Taber, 2021), and these attitudes may relate to an individual’s interpretation of what experiences with these number types signify. Because fractions are challenging, individual differences related to beliefs about challenge, such as endorsement of a growth versus fixed mindset (Dweck, 2006) and interpretations of easy or difficult experiences (Fisher &amp; Oyserman, 2017), could relate to attitudes towards fractions relative to other number types. Aims Two studies tested whether gender, math skills, mindset beliefs, and perceptions of difficulty relate to negative math attitudes towards specific number types. Samples Two samples of college students (Study 1: N = 491; Study 2: N = 415), approximately 19 years of age (17% male, 51% first year students) participated. Methods Participants rated attitudes pertaining to WNs, fractions, and percentages, endorsement of a growth mindset, and perceptions of ease and difficulty. Results Replicating prior work (Sidney, Thompson, Fitzsimmons, &amp; Taber, 2021), college students endorsed more negative attitudes about fractions than WNs and percentages. Self-reported ACT scores related to all number-type attitudes, endorsement of the belief that ‘difficult tasks/goals are important’ related to fraction attitudes, and endorsement of the belief that ‘easy tasks/goals are possible’ related to whole number attitudes. Endorsement of a growth mindset did not relate to specific math attitudes. Conclusions People struggle to integrate their whole number and rational number representations, and one reason people hold negative attitudes about fractions may be that they view them as difficult and even impossible.</p

Leveraging Math Cognition to Combat Health Innumeracy

Rational numbers (i.e., fractions, percentages, decimals, and whole-number frequencies) are notoriously difficult mathematical constructs. Yet, correctly interpreting rational numbers is imperative for understanding health statistics, such as gauging the likelihood of side effects from a medication. Several pernicious biases impact health decision making involving rational numbers. In our novel developmental framework, the natural number bias--a tendency to misapply knowledge about natural numbers to all numbers--is the mechanism underlying other biases that shape health decision making. Natural number bias occurs when people automatically process natural-number magnitudes and disregard ratio magnitudes. Math cognition researchers have identified individual differences and environmental factors underlying natural number bias and devised ways to teach people how to avoid these biases. Although effective interventions from other areas of research can help adults evaluate numerical health information, they circumvent the core issue: people’s penchant to automatically process natural number magnitudes and disregard ratio magnitudes. We describe the origins of natural number bias and how researchers may harness the bias to improve rational number understanding and ameliorate innumeracy in real-world contexts, including health. We recommend modifications to formal math education to help children learn the connections among natural and rational numbers. Additionally, we call on researchers to consider individual differences people bring to health decision-making contexts, and how measures from math cognition might identify those who would benefit most from support when interpreting health statistics. Investigating innumeracy with an interdisciplinary lens could advance understanding of innumeracy in theoretically meaningful and practical ways

Task features change the relation between math anxiety and number line estimation performance with rational numbers: Two large-scale online studies

Math performance is negatively related to math anxiety (MA), though MA may impact certain math skills more than others. We investigated whether the relation between MA and math performance is affected by task features, such as number type (e.g., fractions, whole numbers, percentages), number format (symbolic vs. non-symbolic), and ratio component size (small vs. large). Across two large-scale studies (combined N = 3,822), the MA-performance relation was strongest for large whole numbers and fractions, and stronger for symbolic than non-symbolic fractions. The MA-performance relation was also stronger for smaller relative to larger components, and MA relating to specific number types may be a better predictor of performance than general MA for certain tasks. The relation between MA and estimation performance changes depending on task features, which suggests that MA may relate to certain math skills more than others, which may have implications for how people reason with numerical information and may inform future interventions

Leveraging Math Cognition to Combat Health Innumeracy

Rational numbers (i.e., fractions, percentages, decimals, and whole-number frequencies) are notoriously difficult mathematical constructs. Yet correctly interpreting rational numbers is imperative for understanding health statistics, such as gauging the likelihood of side effects from a medication. Several pernicious biases affect health decision-making involving rational numbers. In our novel developmental framework, the natural-number bias-a tendency to misapply knowledge about natural numbers to all numbers-is the mechanism underlying other biases that shape health decision-making. Natural-number bias occurs when people automatically process natural-number magnitudes and disregard ratio magnitudes. Math-cognition researchers have identified individual differences and environmental factors underlying natural-number bias and devised ways to teach people how to avoid these biases. Although effective interventions from other areas of research can help adults evaluate numerical health information, they circumvent the core issue: people\u27s penchant to automatically process natural-number magnitudes and disregard ratio magnitudes. We describe the origins of natural-number bias and how researchers may harness the bias to improve rational-number understanding and ameliorate innumeracy in real-world contexts, including health. We recommend modifications to formal math education to help children learn the connections among natural and rational numbers. We also call on researchers to consider individual differences people bring to health decision-making contexts and how measures from math cognition might identify those who would benefit most from support when interpreting health statistics. Investigating innumeracy with an interdisciplinary lens could advance understanding of innumeracy in theoretically meaningful and practical ways.</p