Neural Bases of Mathematical Anxiety – implications for the teaching-learning process

Abstract Mathematical Anxiety is a global phenomenon and highly prevalent, possessing physiological, cognitive, and behavioral markers. However, little is known about its underlying neural mechanisms. We provide a Systematic Review of studies that have investigated the neural correlates of Mathematical Anxiety in the last decade and discuss its implications for the teaching-learning process. We selected studies that made brain measurements of individuals with Mathematical Anxiety through electronic databases, considering the delineated inclusion and exclusion criteria. The quality of the literature was analyzed from the 11 items of the PEDro quality scale and conducted by the selection flowchart of PRISMA studies, resulting in the inclusion of 13 neuroscientific studies. In general, literature suggests that neural bases of fear and pain are stimulated by Mathematical Anxiety before and during numerical tasks. There is a reduced capacity for Working Memory and Attention Deficit / Inhibition in individuals with high Mathematical Anxiety. They are also more likely to make mistakes in mathematical tasks, have less precise representations of numerical magnitude, approach math problems differently from their less anxious peers, and tend to raise more cognitive control resources to complete goals with aversive stimuli, processing efficiency and generating performance deficits. Results also support that the effects of Mathematical Anxiety are associated with less cortical activation during the initial stages of numerical stimuli processing, regardless of task complexity.

摘要：数学焦虑（Mathematical Anxiety）是一种全球性现象，且患病率极高，兼具生理、认知与行为层面的特征标志物。然而，目前学界对其潜在的神经机制仍所知甚少。本研究对近十年间探究数学焦虑神经关联的相关研究开展系统综述，并探讨其对教学过程的启示意义。我们通过电子数据库检索符合既定纳入与排除标准的、针对数学焦虑人群开展脑测量的研究文献，采用PEDro质量量表（PEDro quality scale）的11个条目对纳入文献的质量进行评估，并依照PRISMA研究选择流程图开展文献筛选流程，最终纳入13项神经科学相关研究。总体而言，现有文献表明，在数值任务开展前及进行过程中，数学焦虑会激活与恐惧及疼痛相关的神经基础。高数学焦虑人群的工作记忆（Working Memory）容量与注意抑制能力均存在显著下降；他们在数学任务中更易出现错误，对数值量级的表征精度更低，解决数学问题的策略与焦虑水平较低的同龄人存在差异，且往往需要调动更多认知控制资源来完成带有厌恶刺激的任务，最终导致加工效率降低与作业表现受损。研究结果还证实，无论任务复杂程度如何，数学焦虑的影响均与数值刺激加工初始阶段的皮层激活水平降低相关。